04/10 -- US, Iranian regimes prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon; Iran War: And The Winner Is ...
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Thomas L. Knapp
6:06 AM (16 hours ago) 6:06 AM
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/10/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US, Iranian regimes prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon
2) Ukraine war: Putin, Zelenskyy agree to Orthodox Easter ceasefire
3) US filings for jobless aid jump to 219,000 last week but remain within stable range of past few years
4) Quantum-safe bitcoin now possible without a soft fork, but costs $200 a pop, new research shows
5) Artemis 2 hits Earth/moon midpoint on its way home
6) Meta removes ads for social media addiction litigation
7) First major Atlantic hurricane season outlook calls for below-average activity
8) Venezuela: Police attack protesters with chemical weapons
9) UK & Norway led military operation to deter Russian submarines in North Atlantic
10) MN fraud scandal: Sixth family member who met with AG Ellison set to plead guilty
11) Emperor penguins listed as endangered species by worldwide tracking organization
12) OpenAI plans staggered rollout of new model over cybersecurity risk
13) Argentina: Congress passes bill loosening protection of its glaciers
14) Palestine: Israeli regime formally approves 34 new illegal squats
15) For second time, Trump seeks to eliminate federal funding for tribal colleges and universities
16) Fighting Between Sahel-Based Jihadist Rivals Spills Into Niger
17) UK: Pub thief jailed over £2.2m Fabergé theft
18) US DOJ indicts Army veteran for leaking information to journalist
19) Scientists say world’s oldest octopus fossil isn’t an octopus after all
20) Jerusalem: Thousands of Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque after Israel’s 40-day ban
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Iran War: And The Winner Is …
22) War Abroad, Tyranny at Home — and the Theft of a Nation
23) Trump’s New Budget — Which Proposes $1.5 Trillion for Defense — Is Unserious. You Should Still Take It Seriously.
24) The World Can Have Peace Or Israel, But Not Both
25) “No Kings” Doesn’t Apply in California
26) A Crucial Task for Journalists in 2026
27) Who Won the Iran War (So Far)?
28) Trump Shows Why Congress Should Decide When America Goes to War
29) Orbán’s On the Ropes. But Don’t Pray for a Miracle Just Yet
30) California on the Cusp
31) What comes next in the Iran war? What this ceasefire will and won’t do
32) Turns Out the Elites Like the Administrative State Better than Democracy
33) Ending Israel’s War on Peace
34) The “Opposition Party” Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It
35) What Does the New Right Believe?
36) Internal Combustion Engines: The Great Economic Equalizer
37) Tulsi Gabbard keeps her focus on revealing Deep State’s dirty secrets, even as it tries to take her down
38) For peace with Iran to work a reckoning with Israel is in order
39) America’s Pro-War Elites Must Be Held Accountable
40) Government by Settlement
41) The War Is Bad, The Cease-Fire Doesn’t Exist, The Future Is Awful
42) This Isn’t Ronald Reagan’s FCC
43) The Unwarranted Iran War: US-China Stakes, Regional Costs, Global Losses
44) Trump’s ceasefire confusion just gave Vance an opportunity
45) Don’t Trust Any Pundit Who Insists You Should Trust Them
46) The Iran Ceasefire Is a Stunning Defeat for Militarism
47) Posting Past Armageddon
48) Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman
49) Salah Sarsour: A Pillar Taken, A Community That Will Not Yield
50) Unhinged Trump Needs a Congressional Intervention
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Daily, 04/09/26
52) The Libertarian Angle, 04/09/26
53) Capital Record, episode 293
54) Underthrow Podcast, 04/09/26
55) The Political Orphanage, 04/09/26
56) The Fifth Column, episode 552
57) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 04/08/26
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/26
59) Free Speech Unmuted, 04/08/26
60) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 379
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US, Iranian regimes prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon
Source: Associated Press
“Negotiators from Iran and the United States prepared Friday for high-level talks planned to start a day later in Islamabad, seeking to steady a ceasefire teetering over Israel and Hezbollah exchanging fire and Tehran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was set to take off from Washington, with Iran still remaining mum over its team as it tried to pressure Washington to halt Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, claimed that talks would ‘remain suspended”’ otherwise. Meanwhile, Kuwait said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region.” (04/10/26)
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-april-10-2026-1acfb8e733e476b0919689e0682cbb05
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2) Ukraine war: Putin, Zelenskyy agree to Orthodox Easter ceasefire
Source: Reuters
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a 32-hour ceasefire over a two-day period for Orthodox Easter and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv would abide by the measure. The ceasefire for Orthodox Easter celebrations on Sunday coincides with a pause in U.S.-led efforts to clinch a settlement to the four-year-old conflict amid hostilities in Iran and the broader Middle East. Putin’s announcement was similar to a 30-hour ceasefire he ordered last year. Each side accused the other of violating it.” (04/09/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-putin-announces-orthodox-easter-ceasefire-expects-ukraine-do-same-2026-04-09/
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3) US filings for jobless aid jump to 219,000 last week but remain within stable range of past few years
Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
“U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose last week before Iran, Israel and the U.S. announced a two-week ceasefire deal that injected a degree of optimism into a still-clouded global economic picture. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending April 4 jumped by 16,000 to 219,000 from the previous week’s 203,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than the 210,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting but within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” 904/09/26)
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/09/us-filings-jobless-aid/
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4) Quantum-safe bitcoin now possible without a soft fork, but costs $200 a pop, new research shows
Source: CoinDesk
“A StarkWare researcher has proposed Quantum Safe Bitcoin, a hash-based scheme that can make bitcoin transactions resistant to quantum attacks today without changing the Bitcoin protocol. The method works within existing consensus rules but requires massive off-chain GPU computation, driving estimated costs to $75 to $200 per transaction and making it far more complex than standard payments. Framed as a last-resort emergency tool rather than a permanent fix, QSB contrasts with long-term proposals like BIP-360, which seek protocol-level quantum resistance but are likely years away from activation.” (04/10/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/04/10/quantum-safe-bitcoin-now-possible-without-a-soft-fork-but-costs-usd200-a-pop
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5) Artemis 2 hits Earth/moon midpoint on its way home
Source: Space.com
“The Artemis 2 astronauts have hit the midway point in their journey back to Earth from the moon, according to NASA. The quartet — NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen — remain on track arrive at their home planet on Friday evening (April 10). … Orion’s return trajectory plan for Artemis 2 was altered after the heat shield on Artemis 1 experienced unexpected char and material losses during atmospheric reentry. Now, rather than hitting the atmosphere head-on, Orion will perform what’s called a ‘lofted’ reentry, dipping down into the atmosphere briefly, before delving back down for its final descent — similar to a stone skipping once across a pond before sinking beneath the water.” (04/09/26)
https://www.space.com/news/live/artemis-2-nasa-moon-mission-updates-april-9-2026
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6) Meta removes ads for social media addiction litigation
Source: Axios
“Meta on Thursday began removing advertisements from attorneys who were seeking clients that claim to have been harmed by social media while under the age of 18. This comes just two weeks after Meta and YouTube were found negligent in a landmark California case about social media addiction [sic]. Lawyers across the country now are seeking new plaintiffs, in the hopes of bringing a class action lawsuit that could result in lucrative verdicts. … ‘We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,’ a Meta spokesperson tells Axios. ‘We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/09/meta-social-media-addiction-ads
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7) First major Atlantic hurricane season outlook calls for below-average activity
Source: Washington Post
“The first major outlook for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season was released Thursday morning as researchers at Colorado State University forecast a near- or below-average season, with fewer hurricanes than typical and a lesser chance of impacts for this region of the United States. In his first long-range forecast for the year, renowned hurricane specialist Phil Klotzbach predicted 13 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes, slightly less than the long-term seasonal average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2 hurricanes and 3.2 major hurricanes. … The driving factor is a burgeoning El Niño, which may even become a super El Niño. El Niño begins as a warming of waters in the eastern/central tropical Pacific. … El Niño patterns are linked to quieter-than-average Atlantic hurricane seasons.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/LSdea
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8) Venezuela: Police attack protesters with chemical weapons
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Venezuelan police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse around 2,000 protesters who marched towards the presidential palace to demand salary increases, AFP reporters said. ‘Let’s go to Miraflores!’ the demonstrators shouted as they pressed long-standing demands for increases to wages so low that many struggle to survive. Riot police with helmets and shields attempted to drive back the protesters as they made their way through central Caracas, a few kilometres from the presidential palace. The protests reflect growing anger in Venezuela over the failure of acting President Delcy Rodriguez to set out concrete plans to address the situation. On Wednesday, she went on television to announce a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.” (04/09/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260409-venezuela-police-tear-gas-protesters-calling-for-pay-and-pension-rises
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9) UK & Norway led military operation to deter Russian submarines in North Atlantic
Source: SFGate
“Britain and Norway conducted a weekslong military operation to deter Russian spy submarines near undersea cables in the North Atlantic, the U.K. defense chief said Thursday, accusing Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe. Defense Secretary John Healey said a Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel were involved in tracking a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K., and prevented the spy vessels from carrying out ‘nefarious’ activities against underwater infrastructure. He said the Russian vessels eventually left after the operation that lasted more than a month. There is no evidence of damage to any cables or pipes, he said. The U.K. said other allies were also involved in the operation, but didn’t name them.” (04/09/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/uk-and-norway-led-a-military-operation-to-deter-22197137.php
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10) MN fraud scandal: Sixth family member who met with AG Ellison set to plead guilty
Source: Fox News
“Yet another member of a family within Minnesota’s Somali community is expected to plead guilty Thursday in the massive fraud scandal that has drawn national attention and prompted criticism of Attorney General Keith Ellison over a meeting he held with members of the family in question. Gandi Mohamed, 45, is expected to either plead guilty at a change of plea hearing scheduled for Thursday or choose to enter a plea of no contest, which would allow him to accept conviction and be sentenced without admitting guilt, according to court records. Mohamed is the sixth member of his family who would be pleading guilty in the scheme prosecutors say fraudulently claimed to be serving meals while instead pocketing $14 million from the federal child nutrition program, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.” (04/09/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-fraud-scandal-sixth-family-member-who-met-ag-ellison-set-plead-guilty
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11) Emperor penguins listed as endangered species by worldwide tracking organization
Source: CBS News
“The emperor penguin has been declared an endangered species as climate change pushes the icon of Antarctica a step closer to extinction, the global authority on threatened wildlife announced Thursday. Its change of status from ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) underscores the existential threat to ice-dependent species as global warming profoundly reshapes the frozen continent. Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to live, hunt and breed. The early break-up and loss of these platforms of frozen ocean water has caused their numbers to plummet.” (04/09/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emperor-penguins-endangered-species/
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12) OpenAI plans staggered rollout of new model over cybersecurity risk
Source: Axios
“OpenAI is finalizing a model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that it plans to release only to a small set of companies, similar to Anthropic’s limited roll out of Mythos, a source familiar told Axios. AI capabilities have reached a tipping point, at least in terms of autonomy and hacking capabilities. Model-makers are now so worried about the havoc their own tools could cause that they’re reluctant to release them into the wild. Anthropic announced plans Tuesday to limit access of its new Mythos Preview model to a hand-picked group of technology and cybersecurity companies over fears of its advanced hacking capabilities.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/o5rKu
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13) Argentina: Congress passes bill loosening protection of its glaciers
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Argentina’s Congress has passed a controversial amendment making it easier to mine in glacier regions, a move environmentalists say weakens protections for crucial water sources. The pioneering Glacier Law, approved in 2010, prohibited all mining and exploration activities in glacier regions by protecting them as water reserves. The reform shifts the responsibility of defining protected glacier areas from the Argentine Institute for Snow, Ice and Environmental Sciences (Ianigla) to the provincial governments. President Javier Milei, who backed the reform, said the change ’empower[s] the provinces to utilise their resources’ and allows mining activities ‘where there was nothing to protect’. The reform has proven divisive, with those opposed organising protest rallies. Argentina’s Senate had already approved the bill in February 2026, so approval by the lower house was the last major hurdle left.” (04/09/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y72e6x554o
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14) Palestine: Israeli regime formally approves 34 new illegal squats
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“The security cabinet approved the establishment of 34 new [squats] in a meeting two weeks ago, The Times of Israel has learned. This brings to 103 the total number of new [squats] established or retroactively legalized [sic] by the government since it took office in 2022. Only six new [squats] were formally approved by Israel in the 30 years following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Security cabinet meetings and their decisions are classified, and there has been no official confirmation of the decision by the government.” (04/09/26)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/34-new-west-bank-settlements-formally-approved-by-government/
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15) For second time, Trump seeks to eliminate federal funding for tribal colleges and universities
Source: SFGate
“For the second year in a row, the Trump administration is proposing slashing federal funding for tribal colleges and universities. President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal calls for a $1.5 trillion increase to defense spending and would carve billions of dollars out of programs that fulfill trust and treaty responsibilities to tribal nations, including entirely eliminating funding for the Institute for American Indian Arts, the country’s only federally funded college for contemporary Native American arts. The budget proposal released last week also calls for cutting funding for TCUs, as well as funding for two schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education: Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico. Students at both colleges sued the BIE last year over funding and staffing cuts made by the administration.” (04/09/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/for-second-time-trump-seeks-to-eliminate-federal-22197743.php
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16) Fighting Between Sahel-Based Jihadist Rivals Spills Into Niger
Source: US News & World Report
“The West African affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State have clashed in Niger for the first time, according to a statement from one of the groups, a development that analysts said signals an intensification of their years-long rivalry. Al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wal‑Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP) engaged in their first skirmishes in 2019 and have since clashed hundreds of times, resulting in more than 2,100 deaths, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), a conflict monitoring group. That fighting had unfolded exclusively in Mali and Burkina Faso until last week when ISSP fighters attacked a JNIM position in the Tillaberi region of western Niger.” (04/09/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-09/fighting-between-sahel-based-jihadist-rivals-spills-into-niger
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17) UK: Pub thief jailed over £2.2m Fabergé theft
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“An ‘opportunistic’ thief who stole a handbag containing an emerald-encrusted Fabergé egg and watch set worth up to £2.2m from a central London pub has been jailed for more than two years. Enzo Conticello, 29, took Rosie Dawson’s handbag which she had placed between her legs on the ground as she stood outside the Dog and Duck in Soho on 7 November 2024. The Fabergé items were in her handbag after she had taken them for display at a work event earlier that evening. They have not been recovered. Conticello — also known as Hakin Boudjenoune — was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud by false representation and one count of theft at an earlier hearing. The court heard Conticello was after ‘easy money’ and that he had handed over the bag, which also contained a laptop and credit cards, to buy drugs.” (04/09/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6098jngryo
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18) US DOJ indicts Army veteran for leaking information to journalist
Source: United Press International
“Federal authorities have arrested and charged an Army veteran with top secret clearance on accusations of sharing classified national defense information with a journalist, who is accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against a whistleblower. Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, N.C., was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday, a day after she was arrested by the FBI, the Justice Department said in a statement. … Williams is a named source in Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, an investigative nonfiction book about a string of unsolved murders at the special operations base that was published in August. In a book excerpt published by Politico, Williams alleges sexual harassment and discrimination within Delta Force at the North Carolina base.” (04/09/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/09/veteran-charged-journalist/9181775719093/
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19) Scientists say world’s oldest octopus fossil isn’t an octopus after all
Source: SFGate
“A 300-million-year-old tentacled sea creature has lost its crown as the world’s oldest octopus, after scientists found evidence that it’s not an octopus at all. Newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell. University of Reading zoologist Thomas Clements, the lead researcher behind the new findings, said the fossil, Pohlsepia mazonensis, has long been the subject of scientific debate. ‘It’s a very difficult fossil to interpret,’ he said. ‘To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush. If you look at it and you are a cephalopod researcher and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/scientists-say-the-world-s-oldest-octopus-fossil-22197059.php
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20) Jerusalem: Thousands of Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque after Israel’s 40-day ban
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem has reopened to Palestinian worshippers after a 40-day closure by Israel. Video verified by Al Jazeera showed Palestinians streaming through its gates early on Thursday morning. Around 3,000 worshippers attended morning prayers. Access had been completely prohibited, or restricted to a few dozen faithful at Christian, Jewish and Muslim sites following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28. Israel often imposes restrictions, especially on Palestinian worshippers.” (04/09/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/9/thousands-of-palestinians-pray-at-al-aqsa-mosque-after-israels-40-day-ban
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Iran War: And The Winner Is …
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“US president Donald Trump says that his war in Iran — currently in a supposed ceasefire — resulted in ‘total and complete victory. 100%. No question about it.’ The Iranian regime, via a statement from its Supreme National Security Council, also claims ‘great victory.’ If the war is really over (I’m skeptical), who actually won? Well, not you.” (04/09/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20533
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22) War Abroad, Tyranny at Home — and the Theft of a Nation
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“Every bomb dropped abroad is a bill sent home. Every war waged in the name of ‘security’ is paid for by Americans who go without — without affordable healthcare, without stable housing, without a government that prioritizes their well-being. As the U.S. pours trillions into endless wars and military expansion, Americans are left paying the price — not just in dollars, but in lost freedoms and eroded constitutional protections. This is not national defense. This is organized theft.” (04/09/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/09/war-abroad-tyranny-at-home-and-the-theft-of-a-nation/
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23) Trump’s New Budget — Which Proposes $1.5 Trillion for Defense — Is Unserious. You Should Still Take It Seriously.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“The president’s fiscal 2027 budget is out, and I have two reactions. The first will sound familiar: Like so many budgets before it, this is not a serious effort to put America’s government on a sustainable path. The second is more important: It would be a mistake to dismiss it as just another unserious document. That is exactly how we got here.” (04/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/09/trumps-new-budget-which-proposes-1-5-trillion-for-defense-is-unserious-you-should-still-take-it-seriously/
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24) The World Can Have Peace Or Israel, But Not Both
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel is already aggressively sabotaging the Trump administration’s two-week ceasefire with Iran by slaughtering huge numbers of civilians in Lebanon …. The US and Israel are trying to claim that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement, but Pakistan, whom the US appointed to mediate the agreement, says this is false. The New York Times reports that the White House took part in Pakistan’s public messaging which explicitly included Lebanon in the ceasefire conditions, before changing its tune after Israel attacked. Iran has reportedly responded to these violations by again halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. This serves as yet another reminder that the world can have peace or it can have Israel — but it cannot have both. Israel is a genocidal apartheid state whose entire existence is premised upon a strategy of unceasing violence and abuse in the middle east.” (04/09/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/09/the-world-can-have-peace-or-israel-but-not-both/
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25) “No Kings” Doesn’t Apply in California
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“‘No Kings’ protests have been breaking out all over California, even in the quaint village of Cambria on the central coast. In effect, for nearly three decades, that town was ruled by the closest equivalent of a monarch since the days of Spanish colonialism. As King Arthur (Graham Chapman) noted in the Monty Python Holy Grail film, ‘you don’t vote for kings,’ and that was true of Peter Douglas. Born in Germany in 1942, Douglas came to the United States in the early 1950s and earned undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA. In 1972, three years after the Santa Barbara oil spill, Douglas co-authored Proposition 20, the ballot initiative that created the California Coastal Commission (CCC), a temporary 15-member commission to impose land-use regulations along the state coastline. … Douglas ruled the California coast for 26 years without ever facing the voters.” (04/09/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/09/no-kings-doesnt-apply-in-california/
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26) A Crucial Task for Journalists in 2026
Source: TomDispatch
by Arnold Isaacs
“A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election, I wrote ‘An Open Letter to My Old Tribe’, urging ‘every reporter who is covering this election at any level’ to focus on a crucial question — whether the public would trust the election procedure and the losing candidate would accept the result as legitimate. ‘It does not seem an exaggeration,’ I wrote then, ‘to say that the future of American democracy, perhaps its very survival, depends on the answer.’ More than five years later, with less than seven months to go before the midterm elections, that question is before us again, but in far starker terms than I could have imagined in 2020. So, here’s an updated letter to the media tribe I once belonged to, with suggestions broadly similar to those I made five years ago, but with a far sharper sense of urgency, even fear.” (04/09/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/from-an-old-journalist-another-letter-to-the-tribe/
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27) Who Won the Iran War (So Far)?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Who won the Iran War, at least so far? The answer turns on what metrics for success one uses. If one uses military battles, bombings, death, and destruction, there is no question but that the United States won the war. … Yet, consider the following: The U.S. had the following war aims: (1) an unconditional surrender of the Iranian regime; (2) regime change in which pro-U.S. Iranian dissidents would take control of the Iranian government; and (3) the destruction of Iran’s nuclear materials.” (04/09/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/04/09/who-won-the-iran-war-so-far/
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28) Trump Shows Why Congress Should Decide When America Goes to War
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow
“The president’s performance has been bizarre as well as hypocritical. He insists, as nations around the world stumble toward recession, that he acted for them, so it is up to them to get the oil they need. He removed sanctions on oil sold by Iran while threatening to wipe out Iranian civilization. He declared his support for the Iranian people while warning that he would bomb them back into ‘the Stone Ages.’ America’s founders would not have been surprised by such a performance. They revolted against not just Great Britain, but an entire monarchical system in which kings, emperors, queens, czars, and other royals ruled arbitrarily. Among monarchs’ chief crimes was callously taking their peoples into senseless wars for economic plunder, territorial aggrandizement, and personal glory — rather like Trump’s Iranian misadventure. Those who drafted the Constitution wanted to ensure that America didn’t suffer similar travails.” (04/09/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-shows-why-congress-should-decide-when-america-goes-to-war/
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29) Orbán’s On the Ropes. But Don’t Pray for a Miracle Just Yet
Source: Persuasion
by Dalibor Rohac
“Hungary’s strongman has drastically reshaped his country, and the election on Sunday may not change that.” (04/09/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/orbans-on-the-ropes-but-dont-pray
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30) California on the Cusp
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Marc Joffe
“California voters will decide this year whether the state will remain the global center of technology innovation or begin a steady decline. Their choice for governor and on a key ballot initiative will make the difference. The top three Democratic gubernatorial candidates enjoy strong backing from organized labor, including the state’s all-powerful public-employee unions. If elected, it’s nearly certain they’ll follow the union playbook of more taxes and regulations for the next four or even eight years.” (04/09/26)
https://fee.org/articles/california-on-the-cusp/
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31) What comes next in the Iran war? What this ceasefire will and won’t do
Source: Fox News
by Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (USA, ret.)
“The Iran ceasefire was less than three hours old when missiles began flying from Iran toward Israel and the Gulf states. That detail — documented in real time — tells you more about the durability of this agreement than any official statement. A pause is not peace. A handshake in Islamabad is not a settlement. And a region that has been at war for 40 days does not stand down because two governments issued parallel social media posts. The two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Gen. Asim Munir is genuinely welcome. It stepped both sides back from a precipice with real humanitarian and strategic consequences. But Vice President JD Vance himself called it a ‘fragile truce.’ That is the most honest thing anyone in this administration has said about it. Hold that phrase.” (04/09/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/what-comes-next-iran-war-what-ceasefire-will-wont-do
-----
32) Turns Out the Elites Like the Administrative State Better than Democracy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“The ‘administrative state,’ of course, is anything but democratic; it is autocratic to the core. For all of their professed love for democracy, progressives have long demanded rule by experts, or at least rule by ‘experts’ that meet progressive approval. As I pointed out last year, when actual scientists studied the effects of so-called acid rain and concluded that it was not causing lake and river acidification, progressives in the media, as well as EPA administrators, immediately tried to destroy the careers of scientists failing to echo the party line. Not surprisingly, one of the loudest antiscience voices in the acid rain affair was the New York Times.” (04/09/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/turns-out-elites-administrative-state-better-democracy
-----
33) Ending Israel’s War on Peace
Source: Common Dreams
by Jeffrey D Sachs & Sybil Fares
“A two-week ceasefire has partially halted the Israel-US war on Iran. The war accomplished precisely nothing that a competent diplomat could not have achieved in an afternoon. The Strait of Hormuz was open before the war and it is open again now, but with more Iranian control. Meanwhile, the chaos continues. Israel is intent on blowing up the ceasefire, as this was Israel’s war from the start. Israel dazzled Trump with the prospect of a one-day decapitation strike that would put Trump in charge of Iran’s oil. Israel, in turn, was out for bigger prey: to bring down the Iranian regime and thereby become the regional hegemon of Western Asia. The foundation of the ceasefire is Iran’s 10-point plan, which Trump (perhaps unwittingly) called a ‘workable basis on which to negotiate.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-war-on-peace
-----
34) The “Opposition Party” Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It
Source: Glenn Greenwald
by Jeremy Loffredo
“There is a version of the Democratic Party that exists only in the imagination: the peace party, the anti-war party, the party that marched against the Iraq War and howled at its neocon designers. As Donald Trump (reportedly) accepted Iran’s ceasefire terms this week, some of the most pointed attacks coming his way from Democrats are not about the thousands of civilians killed, the weeks of brutal bombardments against medical centers and universities, or the global economic damage the war has caused. They are about the war ending before the U.S. and Israel finished the job. And this is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a pattern coming from Democratic senators, the Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee, ranking members of the Armed Services Committee, and some of the party’s most prominent voices. The liberal opposition party wants more war.” (04/09/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-opposition-party-has-done-nothing
-----
35) What Does the New Right Believe?
Source: Reason
by Stephen Davies
“From trade to migration to personal freedom, the conservatives of the global New Right hold a philosophy incompatible with individualism.” (04/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/09/what-does-the-new-right-believe/
-----
36) Internal Combustion Engines: The Great Economic Equalizer
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffery L Degner
“Internal combustion engines empowered millions to participate in the modern economy. Restrictions on their use hit the poor hardest.” (04/09/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/internal-combustion-engines-the-great-economic-equalizer/
-----
37) Tulsi Gabbard keeps her focus on revealing Deep State’s dirty secrets, even as it tries to take her down
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“Anonymously sourced hit pieces have hammered Tulsi Gabbard the past few months in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, you name it. They are part of a relentless campaign to undermine President Trump’s director of national intelligence because she is almost single-handedly revealing the dirty secrets of the Deep State. Rumors swirl around Washington that the president is displeased with her and she will soon follow Pam Bondi out the door. But that doesn’t appear to be the case.” (04/08/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/08/opinion/miranda-devine-tulsi-gabbard-keeps-her-focus-on-revealing-deep-states-dirty-secrets-even-as-they-try-to-take-her-down/
-----
38) For peace with Iran to work a reckoning with Israel is in order
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by James R Webb
“Despite the challenges ahead for the U.S. in securing a durable peace, there is perhaps a massive potential political opportunity for President Trump to fulfill a campaign promise. A core promise that attracted independents and conservatives, and arguably was the single biggest driver of both of his electoral victories, was the removal of American troops from the Middle East. Preventing the continuation of, or yet another war with the U.S. is arguably Iran’s most meaningful demand, and perhaps the most valuable for the U.S. at the bargaining table. At this juncture, American basing across the region only serves to pressure and threaten Iran, whose existence is not and never has been an existential threat to the U.S. homeland. Further, what better way for President Trump to demonstrate victory than to publicly declare that our objectives have been met and that the troops are coming home, thus making a splash heading into midterms?” (04/09/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-ceasefire/
-----
39) America’s Pro-War Elites Must Be Held Accountable
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“The United States is still good at many things, but holding elites to account is not one of them. President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush pardoned the officials responsible for the Iran-Contra scandal, and Barack Obama declined to prosecute the men and women who had authorized the illegal use of torture. The architects of the disastrous wars in Vietnam and Iraq remained respected members of the establishment for the rest of their lives, in some cases occupying leadership posts or comfortable sinecures at prominent institutions and continuing to opine on foreign-policy matters whenever they wished. Nor were the fraudsters who brought us the 2008 financial crisis ever held to account—we just turned the page and moved on. Given that record, it isn’t so surprising that the United States tends to repeat past errors.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/hn2CD
-----
40) Government by Settlement
Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis
“In his piquant memoir, Streetwise, Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, shares an arresting anecdote about the administrative state. The SEC sued Goldman for allegedly misleading investors about the risks of mortgage-backed securities. Blankfein considered the suit meritless but settled for $550 million. ‘You can’t litigate against your regulator. It’s like a Star Trek episode: an alien controls the Enterprise’s bridge and threatens to shut off life support unless the ship surrenders.’ The dilemma for the regulated firm is that even if it wins the suit, its regulating agency has many other ways to make life unpleasant.” (04/09/26)
https://lawliberty.org/government-by-settlement/
-----
41) The War Is Bad, The Cease-Fire Doesn’t Exist, The Future Is Awful
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“It took not even 24 hours for the tollbooth on the Strait of Hormuz to snap shut. Israel, whose desires to act as a saboteur and trap the United States into the war it desperately wanted us to conduct couldn’t be more obvious, spent Wednesday pounding central Beirut with airstrikes, hitting 100 targets in ten minutes, with at least 112 dead. Iran and the U.S. have very different conceptions of whether Lebanon counts as part of the nascent cease-fire. After Donald Trump confirmed that in his view Israel and Lebanon are in a ‘separate skirmish,’ which conflicts with the view of Pakistan, the country that mediated the dispute, Iran showed its displeasure by closing the strait to oil tankers, and now the Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened military action against ‘aggressors in the region’ (Israel) if the Lebanon attacks continue.” (04/09/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/09/iran-war-cease-fire-strait-of-hormuz-oil-shipping-toll/
-----
42) This Isn’t Ronald Reagan’s FCC
Source: The Dispatch
by Berin Szóka
“Last month, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licenses of broadcasters who ‘are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news.’ ‘This isn’t Reagan’s FCC,’ he had declared just a few weeks before. That’s because President Ronald Reagan knew better. That’s why he vetoed the Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/GzuN7
-----
43) The Unwarranted Iran War: US-China Stakes, Regional Costs, Global Losses
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“Originally set for March, the high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was postponed for about ‘five or six weeks,’ due to the U.S. focus on military operations in Iran. The delay suggests that the Trump administration grossly underestimated Iran’s resilience. The summit will take place under the shadow of the worst energy crisis since the 1970s.” (04/09/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2026/04/08/the-unwarranted-iran-war-us-china-stakes-regional-costs-global-losses/
-----
44) Trump’s ceasefire confusion just gave Vance an opportunity
Source: USA Today
by Rex Huppke
“In the sweep of less than 24 hours on April 7, Donald Trump went from threatening genocide to agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, a ceasefire that appears to give the Middle East nation a lot in return for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m damn glad he stepped away from mass murder. But let’s be honest: America can’t continue with this kind of ‘Look at me, I’m a crazy former reality show star, tune in to see what I’ll do next?!?’ insanity. … If Vice President JD Vance were smart ‒ and I very much don’t think he is ‒ he would use this disgraceful moment to turn on the president and position himself as a less insane choice to lead the country. Maybe some Republicans would get on board with that, knowing the other path available to them ends in political ruin. But I won’t hold my breath.” (04/08/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/04/08/ceasefire-iran-trump-impeachment-war-crimes/89510547007/
-----
45) Don’t Trust Any Pundit Who Insists You Should Trust Them
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“There used to be a difference between famous and infamous – people aspired to be famous, no one wanted to be infamous. It was good attention versus bad attention. Now, the line between those two sides is gone and desperate narcissists who seek to fill the holes in their souls only see attention; numbers. These people are on full display right now; you should spot them and try to avoid them like the plague. You know the types – every time they’re challenged, they cite numbers of views or subscribers, as if that irrelevant information indicates anything other than the depths of their insecurity.” (04/09/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/04/09/dont-trust-any-pundit-who-insists-you-should-trust-them-n2674138#google_vignette
-----
46) The Iran Ceasefire Is a Stunning Defeat for Militarism
Source: Jacobin
by Branko Marcetic
“The Iran war was such a fiasco that Donald Trump had no choice but to find a way out. Whether it sticks will partly depend on Democrats resisting the urge to irresponsibly goad him back into it.” (04/08/26)
https://jacobin.com/2026/04/us-iran-war-ceasefire/
-----
47) Posting Past Armageddon
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Buried in his book about being a wheeler-dealer, Mr. Trump notoriously advances a notion eerily similar to Nixon’s Madman strategy. Trump likes to keep those with whom he is negotiating ‘guessing.’ He says this often. We cannot be shocked, then, if we’re all kept guessing about his Iran strategy. His litany of flip-flops from early March to the present day has been breathtaking, even for Trump.” (04/08/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/08/posting-past-armageddon/
-----
48) Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“After six weeks of insane behavior, the ceasefire should not lead us to believe Trump has regained his faculties.” (04/08/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/04/08/trump-madman-theory-danger/
-----
49) Salah Sarsour: A Pillar Taken, A Community That Will Not Yield
Source: In These Times
by Dr. Hatem Bazian
“There are people you meet in the struggle for Palestine and justice who leave a mark not because of titles they hold or platforms they command, but because of who they are — quietly, consistently, and without asking for anything in return. Salah Sarsour is that kind of person. And the fact that he is sitting tonight in a detention facility, torn from his family and his community by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who pulled him over with no legitimate cause, is an injustice that demands that every one of us speak. I first met Salah over thirty years ago, when I was beginning to organize for Palestine on a national level and found myself visiting the Muslim community in Milwaukee. He was already a key leader then — grounded, trusted, and beloved.” (04/09/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/salah-sarsour-a-pillar-taken-a-community-that-will-not-yield
-----
50) Unhinged Trump Needs a Congressional Intervention
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“[G]iven Trump’s threat of inducing civilizational genocide, the American people need to wake up and demand a constitutional solution to this clearly demented president. Things are likely to get worse in the next three years as he ages. The danger of such a rogue executive is why the American founders, in the Constitution, assigned the power to initiate war to Congress, not the president. In a republic, they didn’t think such a grave and solemn decision should be left to one person; instead, it should be voted on by representatives of the people before it is undertaken.” 904/08/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/08/unhinged-trump-congressional-intervention/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Daily, 04/09/26
Source: New York Times
“Unmasking the Creator of Bitcoin.” (04/09/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RlaC9ZJNtA
-----
52) The Libertarian Angle, 04/09/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Intellectual Giants in Austrian Economics.” (04/09/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hx84Li67PQ
-----
53) Capital Record, episode 293
Source: National Review
“Middle Class Resentment, David French, and a Free Market Economy.” (04/09/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/middle-class-resentment-david-french-and-a-free-market-economy/
-----
54) Underthrow Podcast, 04/09/26
Source: Underthrow
“7 Virtues We Should All Start Practicing Right Now w/ Max Borders.” (04/09/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyQ5PlccL3E
-----
55) The Political Orphanage, 04/09/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“The Travails of Afroman and Lindy West (WSPN).” (04/09/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/the-travails-of-afroman-and-lindy-west-wspn
-----
56) The Fifth Column, episode 552
Source: The Fifth Column
“We’re joined by Commentary Magazine executive editor Abe Greenwald to talk about Iran, the shaky ceasefire, JD Vance, groypers, and the fractures on the right.” (04/09/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-ceasefire-that-wasnt-552-w-abe
-----
57) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 04/08/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Lies About Iran Talks: Folding or Just Buying Time for a Ground Invasion? w/ Larry Johnson.” (04/08/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-trump-lies-about-iran-talks-folding-or-just-buying-time-for-a-ground-invasion-w-larry-johnson/
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israel Launches ‘Operation Eternal Darkness’ in Lebanon, Israel Kills Journalist in Gaza, and More.” (04/08/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxIF-jWYjYE
-----
59) Free Speech Unmuted, 04/08/26
Source: Hoover Institution
“Speech, Not ‘Conduct’: Supreme Court Rules on Conversion Talk Therapy | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer.” (04/08/26)
https://free-speech-unmuted.podbean.com/e/speech-not-conduct-supreme-court-rules-on-conversion-talk-therapy-eugene-volokh-and-jane-bambauer-hoover-institution/
-----
60) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 379
Source: Free the People
“Afroman Is Vindicated on Free Speech | Guest: Afroman.” (04/08/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1XJcDcp-TY
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US, Iranian regimes prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon
2) Ukraine war: Putin, Zelenskyy agree to Orthodox Easter ceasefire
3) US filings for jobless aid jump to 219,000 last week but remain within stable range of past few years
4) Quantum-safe bitcoin now possible without a soft fork, but costs $200 a pop, new research shows
5) Artemis 2 hits Earth/moon midpoint on its way home
6) Meta removes ads for social media addiction litigation
7) First major Atlantic hurricane season outlook calls for below-average activity
8) Venezuela: Police attack protesters with chemical weapons
9) UK & Norway led military operation to deter Russian submarines in North Atlantic
10) MN fraud scandal: Sixth family member who met with AG Ellison set to plead guilty
11) Emperor penguins listed as endangered species by worldwide tracking organization
12) OpenAI plans staggered rollout of new model over cybersecurity risk
13) Argentina: Congress passes bill loosening protection of its glaciers
14) Palestine: Israeli regime formally approves 34 new illegal squats
15) For second time, Trump seeks to eliminate federal funding for tribal colleges and universities
16) Fighting Between Sahel-Based Jihadist Rivals Spills Into Niger
17) UK: Pub thief jailed over £2.2m Fabergé theft
18) US DOJ indicts Army veteran for leaking information to journalist
19) Scientists say world’s oldest octopus fossil isn’t an octopus after all
20) Jerusalem: Thousands of Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque after Israel’s 40-day ban
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Iran War: And The Winner Is …
22) War Abroad, Tyranny at Home — and the Theft of a Nation
23) Trump’s New Budget — Which Proposes $1.5 Trillion for Defense — Is Unserious. You Should Still Take It Seriously.
24) The World Can Have Peace Or Israel, But Not Both
25) “No Kings” Doesn’t Apply in California
26) A Crucial Task for Journalists in 2026
27) Who Won the Iran War (So Far)?
28) Trump Shows Why Congress Should Decide When America Goes to War
29) Orbán’s On the Ropes. But Don’t Pray for a Miracle Just Yet
30) California on the Cusp
31) What comes next in the Iran war? What this ceasefire will and won’t do
32) Turns Out the Elites Like the Administrative State Better than Democracy
33) Ending Israel’s War on Peace
34) The “Opposition Party” Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It
35) What Does the New Right Believe?
36) Internal Combustion Engines: The Great Economic Equalizer
37) Tulsi Gabbard keeps her focus on revealing Deep State’s dirty secrets, even as it tries to take her down
38) For peace with Iran to work a reckoning with Israel is in order
39) America’s Pro-War Elites Must Be Held Accountable
40) Government by Settlement
41) The War Is Bad, The Cease-Fire Doesn’t Exist, The Future Is Awful
42) This Isn’t Ronald Reagan’s FCC
43) The Unwarranted Iran War: US-China Stakes, Regional Costs, Global Losses
44) Trump’s ceasefire confusion just gave Vance an opportunity
45) Don’t Trust Any Pundit Who Insists You Should Trust Them
46) The Iran Ceasefire Is a Stunning Defeat for Militarism
47) Posting Past Armageddon
48) Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman
49) Salah Sarsour: A Pillar Taken, A Community That Will Not Yield
50) Unhinged Trump Needs a Congressional Intervention
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Daily, 04/09/26
52) The Libertarian Angle, 04/09/26
53) Capital Record, episode 293
54) Underthrow Podcast, 04/09/26
55) The Political Orphanage, 04/09/26
56) The Fifth Column, episode 552
57) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 04/08/26
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/26
59) Free Speech Unmuted, 04/08/26
60) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 379
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US, Iranian regimes prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon
Source: Associated Press
“Negotiators from Iran and the United States prepared Friday for high-level talks planned to start a day later in Islamabad, seeking to steady a ceasefire teetering over Israel and Hezbollah exchanging fire and Tehran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was set to take off from Washington, with Iran still remaining mum over its team as it tried to pressure Washington to halt Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, claimed that talks would ‘remain suspended”’ otherwise. Meanwhile, Kuwait said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region.” (04/10/26)
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-april-10-2026-1acfb8e733e476b0919689e0682cbb05
-----
2) Ukraine war: Putin, Zelenskyy agree to Orthodox Easter ceasefire
Source: Reuters
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a 32-hour ceasefire over a two-day period for Orthodox Easter and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv would abide by the measure. The ceasefire for Orthodox Easter celebrations on Sunday coincides with a pause in U.S.-led efforts to clinch a settlement to the four-year-old conflict amid hostilities in Iran and the broader Middle East. Putin’s announcement was similar to a 30-hour ceasefire he ordered last year. Each side accused the other of violating it.” (04/09/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-putin-announces-orthodox-easter-ceasefire-expects-ukraine-do-same-2026-04-09/
-----
3) US filings for jobless aid jump to 219,000 last week but remain within stable range of past few years
Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
“U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose last week before Iran, Israel and the U.S. announced a two-week ceasefire deal that injected a degree of optimism into a still-clouded global economic picture. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending April 4 jumped by 16,000 to 219,000 from the previous week’s 203,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than the 210,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting but within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” 904/09/26)
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/09/us-filings-jobless-aid/
-----
4) Quantum-safe bitcoin now possible without a soft fork, but costs $200 a pop, new research shows
Source: CoinDesk
“A StarkWare researcher has proposed Quantum Safe Bitcoin, a hash-based scheme that can make bitcoin transactions resistant to quantum attacks today without changing the Bitcoin protocol. The method works within existing consensus rules but requires massive off-chain GPU computation, driving estimated costs to $75 to $200 per transaction and making it far more complex than standard payments. Framed as a last-resort emergency tool rather than a permanent fix, QSB contrasts with long-term proposals like BIP-360, which seek protocol-level quantum resistance but are likely years away from activation.” (04/10/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/04/10/quantum-safe-bitcoin-now-possible-without-a-soft-fork-but-costs-usd200-a-pop
-----
5) Artemis 2 hits Earth/moon midpoint on its way home
Source: Space.com
“The Artemis 2 astronauts have hit the midway point in their journey back to Earth from the moon, according to NASA. The quartet — NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen — remain on track arrive at their home planet on Friday evening (April 10). … Orion’s return trajectory plan for Artemis 2 was altered after the heat shield on Artemis 1 experienced unexpected char and material losses during atmospheric reentry. Now, rather than hitting the atmosphere head-on, Orion will perform what’s called a ‘lofted’ reentry, dipping down into the atmosphere briefly, before delving back down for its final descent — similar to a stone skipping once across a pond before sinking beneath the water.” (04/09/26)
https://www.space.com/news/live/artemis-2-nasa-moon-mission-updates-april-9-2026
-----
6) Meta removes ads for social media addiction litigation
Source: Axios
“Meta on Thursday began removing advertisements from attorneys who were seeking clients that claim to have been harmed by social media while under the age of 18. This comes just two weeks after Meta and YouTube were found negligent in a landmark California case about social media addiction [sic]. Lawyers across the country now are seeking new plaintiffs, in the hopes of bringing a class action lawsuit that could result in lucrative verdicts. … ‘We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,’ a Meta spokesperson tells Axios. ‘We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/09/meta-social-media-addiction-ads
-----
7) First major Atlantic hurricane season outlook calls for below-average activity
Source: Washington Post
“The first major outlook for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season was released Thursday morning as researchers at Colorado State University forecast a near- or below-average season, with fewer hurricanes than typical and a lesser chance of impacts for this region of the United States. In his first long-range forecast for the year, renowned hurricane specialist Phil Klotzbach predicted 13 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes, slightly less than the long-term seasonal average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2 hurricanes and 3.2 major hurricanes. … The driving factor is a burgeoning El Niño, which may even become a super El Niño. El Niño begins as a warming of waters in the eastern/central tropical Pacific. … El Niño patterns are linked to quieter-than-average Atlantic hurricane seasons.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/LSdea
-----
8) Venezuela: Police attack protesters with chemical weapons
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Venezuelan police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse around 2,000 protesters who marched towards the presidential palace to demand salary increases, AFP reporters said. ‘Let’s go to Miraflores!’ the demonstrators shouted as they pressed long-standing demands for increases to wages so low that many struggle to survive. Riot police with helmets and shields attempted to drive back the protesters as they made their way through central Caracas, a few kilometres from the presidential palace. The protests reflect growing anger in Venezuela over the failure of acting President Delcy Rodriguez to set out concrete plans to address the situation. On Wednesday, she went on television to announce a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.” (04/09/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260409-venezuela-police-tear-gas-protesters-calling-for-pay-and-pension-rises
-----
9) UK & Norway led military operation to deter Russian submarines in North Atlantic
Source: SFGate
“Britain and Norway conducted a weekslong military operation to deter Russian spy submarines near undersea cables in the North Atlantic, the U.K. defense chief said Thursday, accusing Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe. Defense Secretary John Healey said a Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel were involved in tracking a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K., and prevented the spy vessels from carrying out ‘nefarious’ activities against underwater infrastructure. He said the Russian vessels eventually left after the operation that lasted more than a month. There is no evidence of damage to any cables or pipes, he said. The U.K. said other allies were also involved in the operation, but didn’t name them.” (04/09/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/uk-and-norway-led-a-military-operation-to-deter-22197137.php
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10) MN fraud scandal: Sixth family member who met with AG Ellison set to plead guilty
Source: Fox News
“Yet another member of a family within Minnesota’s Somali community is expected to plead guilty Thursday in the massive fraud scandal that has drawn national attention and prompted criticism of Attorney General Keith Ellison over a meeting he held with members of the family in question. Gandi Mohamed, 45, is expected to either plead guilty at a change of plea hearing scheduled for Thursday or choose to enter a plea of no contest, which would allow him to accept conviction and be sentenced without admitting guilt, according to court records. Mohamed is the sixth member of his family who would be pleading guilty in the scheme prosecutors say fraudulently claimed to be serving meals while instead pocketing $14 million from the federal child nutrition program, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.” (04/09/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-fraud-scandal-sixth-family-member-who-met-ag-ellison-set-plead-guilty
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11) Emperor penguins listed as endangered species by worldwide tracking organization
Source: CBS News
“The emperor penguin has been declared an endangered species as climate change pushes the icon of Antarctica a step closer to extinction, the global authority on threatened wildlife announced Thursday. Its change of status from ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) underscores the existential threat to ice-dependent species as global warming profoundly reshapes the frozen continent. Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to live, hunt and breed. The early break-up and loss of these platforms of frozen ocean water has caused their numbers to plummet.” (04/09/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emperor-penguins-endangered-species/
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12) OpenAI plans staggered rollout of new model over cybersecurity risk
Source: Axios
“OpenAI is finalizing a model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that it plans to release only to a small set of companies, similar to Anthropic’s limited roll out of Mythos, a source familiar told Axios. AI capabilities have reached a tipping point, at least in terms of autonomy and hacking capabilities. Model-makers are now so worried about the havoc their own tools could cause that they’re reluctant to release them into the wild. Anthropic announced plans Tuesday to limit access of its new Mythos Preview model to a hand-picked group of technology and cybersecurity companies over fears of its advanced hacking capabilities.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/o5rKu
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13) Argentina: Congress passes bill loosening protection of its glaciers
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Argentina’s Congress has passed a controversial amendment making it easier to mine in glacier regions, a move environmentalists say weakens protections for crucial water sources. The pioneering Glacier Law, approved in 2010, prohibited all mining and exploration activities in glacier regions by protecting them as water reserves. The reform shifts the responsibility of defining protected glacier areas from the Argentine Institute for Snow, Ice and Environmental Sciences (Ianigla) to the provincial governments. President Javier Milei, who backed the reform, said the change ’empower[s] the provinces to utilise their resources’ and allows mining activities ‘where there was nothing to protect’. The reform has proven divisive, with those opposed organising protest rallies. Argentina’s Senate had already approved the bill in February 2026, so approval by the lower house was the last major hurdle left.” (04/09/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y72e6x554o
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14) Palestine: Israeli regime formally approves 34 new illegal squats
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“The security cabinet approved the establishment of 34 new [squats] in a meeting two weeks ago, The Times of Israel has learned. This brings to 103 the total number of new [squats] established or retroactively legalized [sic] by the government since it took office in 2022. Only six new [squats] were formally approved by Israel in the 30 years following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Security cabinet meetings and their decisions are classified, and there has been no official confirmation of the decision by the government.” (04/09/26)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/34-new-west-bank-settlements-formally-approved-by-government/
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15) For second time, Trump seeks to eliminate federal funding for tribal colleges and universities
Source: SFGate
“For the second year in a row, the Trump administration is proposing slashing federal funding for tribal colleges and universities. President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal calls for a $1.5 trillion increase to defense spending and would carve billions of dollars out of programs that fulfill trust and treaty responsibilities to tribal nations, including entirely eliminating funding for the Institute for American Indian Arts, the country’s only federally funded college for contemporary Native American arts. The budget proposal released last week also calls for cutting funding for TCUs, as well as funding for two schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education: Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico. Students at both colleges sued the BIE last year over funding and staffing cuts made by the administration.” (04/09/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/for-second-time-trump-seeks-to-eliminate-federal-22197743.php
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16) Fighting Between Sahel-Based Jihadist Rivals Spills Into Niger
Source: US News & World Report
“The West African affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State have clashed in Niger for the first time, according to a statement from one of the groups, a development that analysts said signals an intensification of their years-long rivalry. Al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wal‑Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP) engaged in their first skirmishes in 2019 and have since clashed hundreds of times, resulting in more than 2,100 deaths, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), a conflict monitoring group. That fighting had unfolded exclusively in Mali and Burkina Faso until last week when ISSP fighters attacked a JNIM position in the Tillaberi region of western Niger.” (04/09/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-09/fighting-between-sahel-based-jihadist-rivals-spills-into-niger
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17) UK: Pub thief jailed over £2.2m Fabergé theft
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“An ‘opportunistic’ thief who stole a handbag containing an emerald-encrusted Fabergé egg and watch set worth up to £2.2m from a central London pub has been jailed for more than two years. Enzo Conticello, 29, took Rosie Dawson’s handbag which she had placed between her legs on the ground as she stood outside the Dog and Duck in Soho on 7 November 2024. The Fabergé items were in her handbag after she had taken them for display at a work event earlier that evening. They have not been recovered. Conticello — also known as Hakin Boudjenoune — was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud by false representation and one count of theft at an earlier hearing. The court heard Conticello was after ‘easy money’ and that he had handed over the bag, which also contained a laptop and credit cards, to buy drugs.” (04/09/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6098jngryo
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18) US DOJ indicts Army veteran for leaking information to journalist
Source: United Press International
“Federal authorities have arrested and charged an Army veteran with top secret clearance on accusations of sharing classified national defense information with a journalist, who is accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against a whistleblower. Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, N.C., was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday, a day after she was arrested by the FBI, the Justice Department said in a statement. … Williams is a named source in Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, an investigative nonfiction book about a string of unsolved murders at the special operations base that was published in August. In a book excerpt published by Politico, Williams alleges sexual harassment and discrimination within Delta Force at the North Carolina base.” (04/09/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/09/veteran-charged-journalist/9181775719093/
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19) Scientists say world’s oldest octopus fossil isn’t an octopus after all
Source: SFGate
“A 300-million-year-old tentacled sea creature has lost its crown as the world’s oldest octopus, after scientists found evidence that it’s not an octopus at all. Newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell. University of Reading zoologist Thomas Clements, the lead researcher behind the new findings, said the fossil, Pohlsepia mazonensis, has long been the subject of scientific debate. ‘It’s a very difficult fossil to interpret,’ he said. ‘To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush. If you look at it and you are a cephalopod researcher and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/scientists-say-the-world-s-oldest-octopus-fossil-22197059.php
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20) Jerusalem: Thousands of Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque after Israel’s 40-day ban
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem has reopened to Palestinian worshippers after a 40-day closure by Israel. Video verified by Al Jazeera showed Palestinians streaming through its gates early on Thursday morning. Around 3,000 worshippers attended morning prayers. Access had been completely prohibited, or restricted to a few dozen faithful at Christian, Jewish and Muslim sites following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28. Israel often imposes restrictions, especially on Palestinian worshippers.” (04/09/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/9/thousands-of-palestinians-pray-at-al-aqsa-mosque-after-israels-40-day-ban
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Iran War: And The Winner Is …
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“US president Donald Trump says that his war in Iran — currently in a supposed ceasefire — resulted in ‘total and complete victory. 100%. No question about it.’ The Iranian regime, via a statement from its Supreme National Security Council, also claims ‘great victory.’ If the war is really over (I’m skeptical), who actually won? Well, not you.” (04/09/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20533
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22) War Abroad, Tyranny at Home — and the Theft of a Nation
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“Every bomb dropped abroad is a bill sent home. Every war waged in the name of ‘security’ is paid for by Americans who go without — without affordable healthcare, without stable housing, without a government that prioritizes their well-being. As the U.S. pours trillions into endless wars and military expansion, Americans are left paying the price — not just in dollars, but in lost freedoms and eroded constitutional protections. This is not national defense. This is organized theft.” (04/09/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/09/war-abroad-tyranny-at-home-and-the-theft-of-a-nation/
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23) Trump’s New Budget — Which Proposes $1.5 Trillion for Defense — Is Unserious. You Should Still Take It Seriously.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“The president’s fiscal 2027 budget is out, and I have two reactions. The first will sound familiar: Like so many budgets before it, this is not a serious effort to put America’s government on a sustainable path. The second is more important: It would be a mistake to dismiss it as just another unserious document. That is exactly how we got here.” (04/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/09/trumps-new-budget-which-proposes-1-5-trillion-for-defense-is-unserious-you-should-still-take-it-seriously/
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24) The World Can Have Peace Or Israel, But Not Both
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel is already aggressively sabotaging the Trump administration’s two-week ceasefire with Iran by slaughtering huge numbers of civilians in Lebanon …. The US and Israel are trying to claim that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement, but Pakistan, whom the US appointed to mediate the agreement, says this is false. The New York Times reports that the White House took part in Pakistan’s public messaging which explicitly included Lebanon in the ceasefire conditions, before changing its tune after Israel attacked. Iran has reportedly responded to these violations by again halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. This serves as yet another reminder that the world can have peace or it can have Israel — but it cannot have both. Israel is a genocidal apartheid state whose entire existence is premised upon a strategy of unceasing violence and abuse in the middle east.” (04/09/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/09/the-world-can-have-peace-or-israel-but-not-both/
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25) “No Kings” Doesn’t Apply in California
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“‘No Kings’ protests have been breaking out all over California, even in the quaint village of Cambria on the central coast. In effect, for nearly three decades, that town was ruled by the closest equivalent of a monarch since the days of Spanish colonialism. As King Arthur (Graham Chapman) noted in the Monty Python Holy Grail film, ‘you don’t vote for kings,’ and that was true of Peter Douglas. Born in Germany in 1942, Douglas came to the United States in the early 1950s and earned undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA. In 1972, three years after the Santa Barbara oil spill, Douglas co-authored Proposition 20, the ballot initiative that created the California Coastal Commission (CCC), a temporary 15-member commission to impose land-use regulations along the state coastline. … Douglas ruled the California coast for 26 years without ever facing the voters.” (04/09/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/09/no-kings-doesnt-apply-in-california/
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26) A Crucial Task for Journalists in 2026
Source: TomDispatch
by Arnold Isaacs
“A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election, I wrote ‘An Open Letter to My Old Tribe’, urging ‘every reporter who is covering this election at any level’ to focus on a crucial question — whether the public would trust the election procedure and the losing candidate would accept the result as legitimate. ‘It does not seem an exaggeration,’ I wrote then, ‘to say that the future of American democracy, perhaps its very survival, depends on the answer.’ More than five years later, with less than seven months to go before the midterm elections, that question is before us again, but in far starker terms than I could have imagined in 2020. So, here’s an updated letter to the media tribe I once belonged to, with suggestions broadly similar to those I made five years ago, but with a far sharper sense of urgency, even fear.” (04/09/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/from-an-old-journalist-another-letter-to-the-tribe/
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27) Who Won the Iran War (So Far)?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Who won the Iran War, at least so far? The answer turns on what metrics for success one uses. If one uses military battles, bombings, death, and destruction, there is no question but that the United States won the war. … Yet, consider the following: The U.S. had the following war aims: (1) an unconditional surrender of the Iranian regime; (2) regime change in which pro-U.S. Iranian dissidents would take control of the Iranian government; and (3) the destruction of Iran’s nuclear materials.” (04/09/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/04/09/who-won-the-iran-war-so-far/
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28) Trump Shows Why Congress Should Decide When America Goes to War
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow
“The president’s performance has been bizarre as well as hypocritical. He insists, as nations around the world stumble toward recession, that he acted for them, so it is up to them to get the oil they need. He removed sanctions on oil sold by Iran while threatening to wipe out Iranian civilization. He declared his support for the Iranian people while warning that he would bomb them back into ‘the Stone Ages.’ America’s founders would not have been surprised by such a performance. They revolted against not just Great Britain, but an entire monarchical system in which kings, emperors, queens, czars, and other royals ruled arbitrarily. Among monarchs’ chief crimes was callously taking their peoples into senseless wars for economic plunder, territorial aggrandizement, and personal glory — rather like Trump’s Iranian misadventure. Those who drafted the Constitution wanted to ensure that America didn’t suffer similar travails.” (04/09/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-shows-why-congress-should-decide-when-america-goes-to-war/
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29) Orbán’s On the Ropes. But Don’t Pray for a Miracle Just Yet
Source: Persuasion
by Dalibor Rohac
“Hungary’s strongman has drastically reshaped his country, and the election on Sunday may not change that.” (04/09/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/orbans-on-the-ropes-but-dont-pray
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30) California on the Cusp
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Marc Joffe
“California voters will decide this year whether the state will remain the global center of technology innovation or begin a steady decline. Their choice for governor and on a key ballot initiative will make the difference. The top three Democratic gubernatorial candidates enjoy strong backing from organized labor, including the state’s all-powerful public-employee unions. If elected, it’s nearly certain they’ll follow the union playbook of more taxes and regulations for the next four or even eight years.” (04/09/26)
https://fee.org/articles/california-on-the-cusp/
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31) What comes next in the Iran war? What this ceasefire will and won’t do
Source: Fox News
by Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (USA, ret.)
“The Iran ceasefire was less than three hours old when missiles began flying from Iran toward Israel and the Gulf states. That detail — documented in real time — tells you more about the durability of this agreement than any official statement. A pause is not peace. A handshake in Islamabad is not a settlement. And a region that has been at war for 40 days does not stand down because two governments issued parallel social media posts. The two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Gen. Asim Munir is genuinely welcome. It stepped both sides back from a precipice with real humanitarian and strategic consequences. But Vice President JD Vance himself called it a ‘fragile truce.’ That is the most honest thing anyone in this administration has said about it. Hold that phrase.” (04/09/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/what-comes-next-iran-war-what-ceasefire-will-wont-do
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32) Turns Out the Elites Like the Administrative State Better than Democracy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“The ‘administrative state,’ of course, is anything but democratic; it is autocratic to the core. For all of their professed love for democracy, progressives have long demanded rule by experts, or at least rule by ‘experts’ that meet progressive approval. As I pointed out last year, when actual scientists studied the effects of so-called acid rain and concluded that it was not causing lake and river acidification, progressives in the media, as well as EPA administrators, immediately tried to destroy the careers of scientists failing to echo the party line. Not surprisingly, one of the loudest antiscience voices in the acid rain affair was the New York Times.” (04/09/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/turns-out-elites-administrative-state-better-democracy
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33) Ending Israel’s War on Peace
Source: Common Dreams
by Jeffrey D Sachs & Sybil Fares
“A two-week ceasefire has partially halted the Israel-US war on Iran. The war accomplished precisely nothing that a competent diplomat could not have achieved in an afternoon. The Strait of Hormuz was open before the war and it is open again now, but with more Iranian control. Meanwhile, the chaos continues. Israel is intent on blowing up the ceasefire, as this was Israel’s war from the start. Israel dazzled Trump with the prospect of a one-day decapitation strike that would put Trump in charge of Iran’s oil. Israel, in turn, was out for bigger prey: to bring down the Iranian regime and thereby become the regional hegemon of Western Asia. The foundation of the ceasefire is Iran’s 10-point plan, which Trump (perhaps unwittingly) called a ‘workable basis on which to negotiate.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-war-on-peace
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34) The “Opposition Party” Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It
Source: Glenn Greenwald
by Jeremy Loffredo
“There is a version of the Democratic Party that exists only in the imagination: the peace party, the anti-war party, the party that marched against the Iraq War and howled at its neocon designers. As Donald Trump (reportedly) accepted Iran’s ceasefire terms this week, some of the most pointed attacks coming his way from Democrats are not about the thousands of civilians killed, the weeks of brutal bombardments against medical centers and universities, or the global economic damage the war has caused. They are about the war ending before the U.S. and Israel finished the job. And this is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a pattern coming from Democratic senators, the Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee, ranking members of the Armed Services Committee, and some of the party’s most prominent voices. The liberal opposition party wants more war.” (04/09/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-opposition-party-has-done-nothing
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35) What Does the New Right Believe?
Source: Reason
by Stephen Davies
“From trade to migration to personal freedom, the conservatives of the global New Right hold a philosophy incompatible with individualism.” (04/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/09/what-does-the-new-right-believe/
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36) Internal Combustion Engines: The Great Economic Equalizer
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffery L Degner
“Internal combustion engines empowered millions to participate in the modern economy. Restrictions on their use hit the poor hardest.” (04/09/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/internal-combustion-engines-the-great-economic-equalizer/
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37) Tulsi Gabbard keeps her focus on revealing Deep State’s dirty secrets, even as it tries to take her down
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“Anonymously sourced hit pieces have hammered Tulsi Gabbard the past few months in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, you name it. They are part of a relentless campaign to undermine President Trump’s director of national intelligence because she is almost single-handedly revealing the dirty secrets of the Deep State. Rumors swirl around Washington that the president is displeased with her and she will soon follow Pam Bondi out the door. But that doesn’t appear to be the case.” (04/08/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/08/opinion/miranda-devine-tulsi-gabbard-keeps-her-focus-on-revealing-deep-states-dirty-secrets-even-as-they-try-to-take-her-down/
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38) For peace with Iran to work a reckoning with Israel is in order
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by James R Webb
“Despite the challenges ahead for the U.S. in securing a durable peace, there is perhaps a massive potential political opportunity for President Trump to fulfill a campaign promise. A core promise that attracted independents and conservatives, and arguably was the single biggest driver of both of his electoral victories, was the removal of American troops from the Middle East. Preventing the continuation of, or yet another war with the U.S. is arguably Iran’s most meaningful demand, and perhaps the most valuable for the U.S. at the bargaining table. At this juncture, American basing across the region only serves to pressure and threaten Iran, whose existence is not and never has been an existential threat to the U.S. homeland. Further, what better way for President Trump to demonstrate victory than to publicly declare that our objectives have been met and that the troops are coming home, thus making a splash heading into midterms?” (04/09/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-ceasefire/
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39) America’s Pro-War Elites Must Be Held Accountable
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“The United States is still good at many things, but holding elites to account is not one of them. President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush pardoned the officials responsible for the Iran-Contra scandal, and Barack Obama declined to prosecute the men and women who had authorized the illegal use of torture. The architects of the disastrous wars in Vietnam and Iraq remained respected members of the establishment for the rest of their lives, in some cases occupying leadership posts or comfortable sinecures at prominent institutions and continuing to opine on foreign-policy matters whenever they wished. Nor were the fraudsters who brought us the 2008 financial crisis ever held to account—we just turned the page and moved on. Given that record, it isn’t so surprising that the United States tends to repeat past errors.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/hn2CD
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40) Government by Settlement
Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis
“In his piquant memoir, Streetwise, Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, shares an arresting anecdote about the administrative state. The SEC sued Goldman for allegedly misleading investors about the risks of mortgage-backed securities. Blankfein considered the suit meritless but settled for $550 million. ‘You can’t litigate against your regulator. It’s like a Star Trek episode: an alien controls the Enterprise’s bridge and threatens to shut off life support unless the ship surrenders.’ The dilemma for the regulated firm is that even if it wins the suit, its regulating agency has many other ways to make life unpleasant.” (04/09/26)
https://lawliberty.org/government-by-settlement/
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41) The War Is Bad, The Cease-Fire Doesn’t Exist, The Future Is Awful
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“It took not even 24 hours for the tollbooth on the Strait of Hormuz to snap shut. Israel, whose desires to act as a saboteur and trap the United States into the war it desperately wanted us to conduct couldn’t be more obvious, spent Wednesday pounding central Beirut with airstrikes, hitting 100 targets in ten minutes, with at least 112 dead. Iran and the U.S. have very different conceptions of whether Lebanon counts as part of the nascent cease-fire. After Donald Trump confirmed that in his view Israel and Lebanon are in a ‘separate skirmish,’ which conflicts with the view of Pakistan, the country that mediated the dispute, Iran showed its displeasure by closing the strait to oil tankers, and now the Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened military action against ‘aggressors in the region’ (Israel) if the Lebanon attacks continue.” (04/09/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/09/iran-war-cease-fire-strait-of-hormuz-oil-shipping-toll/
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42) This Isn’t Ronald Reagan’s FCC
Source: The Dispatch
by Berin Szóka
“Last month, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licenses of broadcasters who ‘are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news.’ ‘This isn’t Reagan’s FCC,’ he had declared just a few weeks before. That’s because President Ronald Reagan knew better. That’s why he vetoed the Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987.” (04/09/26)
https://archive.is/GzuN7
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43) The Unwarranted Iran War: US-China Stakes, Regional Costs, Global Losses
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“Originally set for March, the high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was postponed for about ‘five or six weeks,’ due to the U.S. focus on military operations in Iran. The delay suggests that the Trump administration grossly underestimated Iran’s resilience. The summit will take place under the shadow of the worst energy crisis since the 1970s.” (04/09/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2026/04/08/the-unwarranted-iran-war-us-china-stakes-regional-costs-global-losses/
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44) Trump’s ceasefire confusion just gave Vance an opportunity
Source: USA Today
by Rex Huppke
“In the sweep of less than 24 hours on April 7, Donald Trump went from threatening genocide to agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, a ceasefire that appears to give the Middle East nation a lot in return for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m damn glad he stepped away from mass murder. But let’s be honest: America can’t continue with this kind of ‘Look at me, I’m a crazy former reality show star, tune in to see what I’ll do next?!?’ insanity. … If Vice President JD Vance were smart ‒ and I very much don’t think he is ‒ he would use this disgraceful moment to turn on the president and position himself as a less insane choice to lead the country. Maybe some Republicans would get on board with that, knowing the other path available to them ends in political ruin. But I won’t hold my breath.” (04/08/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/04/08/ceasefire-iran-trump-impeachment-war-crimes/89510547007/
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45) Don’t Trust Any Pundit Who Insists You Should Trust Them
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“There used to be a difference between famous and infamous – people aspired to be famous, no one wanted to be infamous. It was good attention versus bad attention. Now, the line between those two sides is gone and desperate narcissists who seek to fill the holes in their souls only see attention; numbers. These people are on full display right now; you should spot them and try to avoid them like the plague. You know the types – every time they’re challenged, they cite numbers of views or subscribers, as if that irrelevant information indicates anything other than the depths of their insecurity.” (04/09/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/04/09/dont-trust-any-pundit-who-insists-you-should-trust-them-n2674138#google_vignette
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46) The Iran Ceasefire Is a Stunning Defeat for Militarism
Source: Jacobin
by Branko Marcetic
“The Iran war was such a fiasco that Donald Trump had no choice but to find a way out. Whether it sticks will partly depend on Democrats resisting the urge to irresponsibly goad him back into it.” (04/08/26)
https://jacobin.com/2026/04/us-iran-war-ceasefire/
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47) Posting Past Armageddon
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Buried in his book about being a wheeler-dealer, Mr. Trump notoriously advances a notion eerily similar to Nixon’s Madman strategy. Trump likes to keep those with whom he is negotiating ‘guessing.’ He says this often. We cannot be shocked, then, if we’re all kept guessing about his Iran strategy. His litany of flip-flops from early March to the present day has been breathtaking, even for Trump.” (04/08/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/08/posting-past-armageddon/
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48) Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“After six weeks of insane behavior, the ceasefire should not lead us to believe Trump has regained his faculties.” (04/08/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/04/08/trump-madman-theory-danger/
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49) Salah Sarsour: A Pillar Taken, A Community That Will Not Yield
Source: In These Times
by Dr. Hatem Bazian
“There are people you meet in the struggle for Palestine and justice who leave a mark not because of titles they hold or platforms they command, but because of who they are — quietly, consistently, and without asking for anything in return. Salah Sarsour is that kind of person. And the fact that he is sitting tonight in a detention facility, torn from his family and his community by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who pulled him over with no legitimate cause, is an injustice that demands that every one of us speak. I first met Salah over thirty years ago, when I was beginning to organize for Palestine on a national level and found myself visiting the Muslim community in Milwaukee. He was already a key leader then — grounded, trusted, and beloved.” (04/09/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/salah-sarsour-a-pillar-taken-a-community-that-will-not-yield
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50) Unhinged Trump Needs a Congressional Intervention
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“[G]iven Trump’s threat of inducing civilizational genocide, the American people need to wake up and demand a constitutional solution to this clearly demented president. Things are likely to get worse in the next three years as he ages. The danger of such a rogue executive is why the American founders, in the Constitution, assigned the power to initiate war to Congress, not the president. In a republic, they didn’t think such a grave and solemn decision should be left to one person; instead, it should be voted on by representatives of the people before it is undertaken.” 904/08/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/08/unhinged-trump-congressional-intervention/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Daily, 04/09/26
Source: New York Times
“Unmasking the Creator of Bitcoin.” (04/09/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RlaC9ZJNtA
-----
52) The Libertarian Angle, 04/09/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Intellectual Giants in Austrian Economics.” (04/09/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hx84Li67PQ
-----
53) Capital Record, episode 293
Source: National Review
“Middle Class Resentment, David French, and a Free Market Economy.” (04/09/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/middle-class-resentment-david-french-and-a-free-market-economy/
-----
54) Underthrow Podcast, 04/09/26
Source: Underthrow
“7 Virtues We Should All Start Practicing Right Now w/ Max Borders.” (04/09/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyQ5PlccL3E
-----
55) The Political Orphanage, 04/09/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“The Travails of Afroman and Lindy West (WSPN).” (04/09/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/the-travails-of-afroman-and-lindy-west-wspn
-----
56) The Fifth Column, episode 552
Source: The Fifth Column
“We’re joined by Commentary Magazine executive editor Abe Greenwald to talk about Iran, the shaky ceasefire, JD Vance, groypers, and the fractures on the right.” (04/09/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-ceasefire-that-wasnt-552-w-abe
-----
57) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 04/08/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Lies About Iran Talks: Folding or Just Buying Time for a Ground Invasion? w/ Larry Johnson.” (04/08/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-trump-lies-about-iran-talks-folding-or-just-buying-time-for-a-ground-invasion-w-larry-johnson/
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israel Launches ‘Operation Eternal Darkness’ in Lebanon, Israel Kills Journalist in Gaza, and More.” (04/08/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxIF-jWYjYE
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59) Free Speech Unmuted, 04/08/26
Source: Hoover Institution
“Speech, Not ‘Conduct’: Supreme Court Rules on Conversion Talk Therapy | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer.” (04/08/26)
https://free-speech-unmuted.podbean.com/e/speech-not-conduct-supreme-court-rules-on-conversion-talk-therapy-eugene-volokh-and-jane-bambauer-hoover-institution/
-----
60) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 379
Source: Free the People
“Afroman Is Vindicated on Free Speech | Guest: Afroman.” (04/08/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1XJcDcp-TY
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