12/15 -- Happy (Holi)Days Are Here Again? (Year-End Fundraiser Update); Australia: Victim disarmament cultist dances in Bondi Beach victims' blood; First They Came for the Tourists ...
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Thomas L. Knapp
Dec 15, 2025, 6:13:45 AMDec 15
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 12/15/25
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Happy (Holi)Days Are Here Again? (Year-End Fundraiser Update)
1) Australia: Victim disarmament cultist dances in Bondi Beach victims’ blood
2) Thailand: Regime cuts Laos fuel route as Cambodia border conflict deepens
3) iRobot files for bankruptcy after bureaucrats prevent it from saving itself with Amazon acquisition
4) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling court convicts Lai
5) Chile: Kast wins presidential election
6) Cannabis stocks surge on report Trump seeks to ease restrictions
7) Astronomers Observe Star’s Wobbling Orbit, Confirming Einstein’s Frame-Dragging
8) Israel: Regime claims it has killed one of the architects of the October 7 attacks
9) France: Farmers block roads to protest cow disease cull
10) Belarus: Regime frees Nobel winner Bialiatski, opposition figure Kalesnikava as US regime eases sanctions
11) Pornhub reveals number of women watching X-rated videos is surging
12) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador on alleged cyberattack
13) Syria: Three Americans killed in attack US regime blames on IS; Trump pledges retaliation
14) US DOJ Sues Four More States for Access to Detailed Voter Data
15) RI: Two dead, dead, nine injured at Brown University
16) Cambodia: Regime shuts border crossings with Thailand as fighting continues
17) Iran: Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi arrested, supporters say
18) CA: Giant, rare seven-armed sea creature spotted in Monterey Bay
19) Congo: Fear grips Uvira as M23 rebels take control, displacing 200,000
20) Judge bars ICE gang from re-abducting Kilmar Abrego García at check-in
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) First They Came for the Tourists ...
22) They Were All Our Ancestors
23) Epstein’s last casualty could be grand jury secrecy
24) We Learned Leadership Flipping Burgers: Don’t Close America’s On-Ramp
25) Pareto Punishment
26) ICE Detention Is Even Deadlier Under Trump 2.0
27) Americans Need More and Better “Third Places.” User Fees Can Help.
28) Ten Years Of Marriage Equality
29) The Empire Is Scrambling To Fully Dominate Latin America
30) President Trump Is Now Triggering His Very Own MAGApocalypse
31) Democrats divide on homelessness: Public safety vs. radical folly
32) The Indiana Vote Is an Inflection Point
33) The Case Against American Intervention in Venezuela
34) Why Lenin Won
35) The patheticness of Nick Fuentes
36) Sgt. Trump: The Art of Implausible Deniability
37) Let’s Listen to Burke, Part Two
38) Israel’s Biggest Con Trick: Hiding the True Numbers It Has Killed in Gaza
39) Why does anyone want to buy Warner Brothers, anyway?
40) Trump Wants to Dominate Venezuela, Not Liberate It
41) The Continuing Community College Conundrum
42) Can Polarized Moral Politics be Bridged by a Neo-Aristotelian Philosophy of Freedom and Flourishing?
43) The Great British Brain-Drain
44) Trump’s Somali insults are a disgrace to the American dream
45) Meet the Five Families of the Democratic Party
46) Why Governments Prefer Cigarette Revenue over Safer Alternatives
47) Our Secret Constitution
48) How To Spot Rich And Poor Countries
49) Trump Administration Ramps Up Its War On Coal Miners
50) Capitalism’s Communism?
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 321
52) Pink Flame of Liberty, 12/13/25
53) The Reconstruction Agenda with Andy Craig, 12/13/25
54) Free Talk Live, 12/12/25
55) The Good Fight, 12/13/25
56) The Dispatch Podcast, 12/12/25
57) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 12/12/25
58) The Intercept Briefing, 12/12/12
59) The Business List, 12/12/25
60) Galaxy Brain, 12/12/25
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/12/25
62) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/12/25
63) PoliTicks, 12/12/25
64) Bulwark Takes, 12/12/25
65) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/12/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Happy (Holi)Days Are Here Again? (Year-End Fundraiser Update)
Hey, everyone ...
After a "zero-dollar weekend," our year-end fundraiser total remains stuck at $1,828.84.
"Stuck" is bad -- but we're less than $1,000 short of our goal.* Will you help make our holidays happier?
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT'S DAILY NEWSPAPER TODAY!
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
In the "good news" category, RRND is going to have a "real" office for the first time since 2002.
By "real office" I mean a little $700 camper I bought this weekend and parked behind our house.
It needs some work (that's an understatement), but I hope to be publishing RRND/FND out of it by next week. I've always worked from whatever home we're living in, but at the new (to us) house there's not a good segregated "office space" in the "open floor plan" layout. I'm up at 4:30am each day to bring you your daily dose of news, commentary, and podcasting; now I'll have to walk (10 feet or so) to work, too. The rent's not too high, but I hope you'll help with it:
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Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
* Our goal is $5,501, but once we've raised the first half, supporter GL will "match funds" to get us there.
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1) Australia: Victim disarmament cultist dances in Bondi Beach victims’ blood
Soure: Associated Press
“Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday proposed tougher national [victim disarmament] laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead. Albanese said he would propose new restrictions, including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain. His proposals were announced after the authorities revealed that the older of the two gunmen — who were a father and son — had held a gun license for a decade and amassed his six guns legally. … At least 38 people were being treated in hospitals after the massacre on Sunday, when the two shooters fired indiscriminately on the beachfront festivities. Those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor. … The horror at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws primarily aimed at removing rapid-fire rifles from circulation.” (12/15/25)
https://apnews.com/article/australia-shooting-bondi-beach-sydney-3be76a51c820d547ee4697bd25c1bafd
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2) Thailand: Regime cuts Laos fuel route as Cambodia border conflict deepens
Source: Reuters
“Thailand’s military said on Monday that it has stopped fuel shipments passing through a border checkpoint with Laos because of fears they were being diverted to Cambodia, with which it is fighting a fierce border conflict. The Thai and Cambodian militaries are clashing at multiple locations along their 817 km (508 mile) land border, both sides said, with no signs of the fighting abating despite international efforts to negotiate a ceasefire, including calls by U.S. President Donald Trump. … Over half a million people have been displaced by the fighting, which has killed at least 38 on both sides over the past eight days, according to national authorities, who mounted a round of evacuations in July when the neighbours clashed for five days before Trump helped broker a truce.” (12/15/25)
https://archive.is/t9Gt2
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3) iRobot files for bankruptcy after bureaucrats prevent it from saving itself with Amazon acquisition
Source: Business Insider
“The parent company of Roomba, which has sold millions of cleaning robots, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday after 35 years of operation. In a Sunday press release, Massachusetts-based robotics company iRobot said it had filed for bankruptcy protection in the District of Delaware court. The company said that it would be wholly acquired by its main manufacturer and lender, vacuum cleaner maker Shenzhen PICEA. … iRobot went through a failed acquisition attempt by Amazon. In 2022, Amazon announced that it would buy iRobot for $1.7 billion, but pulled the deal in January 2024, citing regulatory hurdles in the US and Europe.” (12/14/25)
https://www.businessinsider.com/irobot-roomba-parent-company-bankruptcy-chapter-11-new-owner-picea-2025-12
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4) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling court convicts Lai
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The High Court of Hong Kong has convicted pro-democracy activist and newspaper founder Jimmy Lai on three charges related to accusations that he undermined China’s national security, as part of a widely scrutinised trial. Lai now faces the possibility of a life sentence in prison. On Monday morning, a panel of three judges found Lai, 78, guilty of two counts of conspiring with foreign forces to threaten national security and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious material.” (12/15/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/15/hong-kong-court-convicts-democracy-activist-jimmy-lai-on-conspiracy-charges
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5) Chile: Kast wins presidential election
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Chile has elected the far-right wing José Antonio Kast to be its next president, after an election campaign that was dominated by themes of security, immigration and crime. Kast beat the governing left-wing coalition candidate Jeanette Jara decisively with more than 58% of the vote in his third attempt at running for president. It marks the biggest shift to the right since the end of Chile’s military dictatorship in 1990. Kast has openly praised Chile’s former right-wing dictator, Augusto Pinochet.” (12/14/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kde07lvvro
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6) Cannabis stocks surge on report Trump seeks to ease restrictions
Source: Fox Business
“Shares of cannabis companies jumped on Friday after the Washington Post reported U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to push the government to dramatically loosen federal restrictions on marijuana. U.S.-listed shares of Tilray Brands gained 35%, while SNDL, Canopy Growth and ETF AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis were up between 20% and 31% in morning trading. According to the report from Thursday, Trump plans to direct agencies to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, reducing oversight of the plant and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers and other drugs. … Trump’s administration has been looking to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a shift that could ease criminal penalties and reshape the industry through potentially lower taxes and by making it easier to secure funding.” (12/12/25)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/cannabis-stocks-surge-report-trump-seeks-ease-restrictions
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7) Astronomers Observe Star’s Wobbling Orbit, Confirming Einstein’s Frame-Dragging
Source: Gadgets 360 [India]
“Astronomers have seen the orbit of a star wobbling around a black hole — a spectacular dance in the cosmos that serves as one of the very few direct confirmations of Einstein’s general theory of relativity made over 100 years ago. The result, derived from periodic changes in X-ray and radio emissions in a tidal disruption event, is essentially a new window onto the workings of a spinning black hole that warps space and time around it. According to the study, researchers analysing the tidal disruption event AT2020afhd noticed that both the swirling disk of stellar debris and the black hole’s powerful jets were wobbling in unison, repeating roughly every 20 days. This motion matches a phenomenon called frame-dragging, where a rotating black hole literally drags spacetime around with it — an effect first described by Einstein and later quantified by Josef Lense and Hans Thirring.” (12/12/25)
https://www.gadgets360.com/science/news/star-s-wobbling-orbit-confirms-einstein-s-frame-dragging-around-a-spinning-black-hole-9791382
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8) Israel: Regime claims it has killed one of the architects of the October 7 attacks
Source: Fox News
“Israel announced Saturday it had killed Ra’ad Sa’ad, the head of the Weapons Production Headquarters in Hamas’[s] military wing and one of the architects of Oct. 7. ‘Sa’ad was one of the last remaining veteran senior militants in the Gaza Strip and a close associate of Marwan Issa, the deputy head of Hamas’ military wing. He held several senior positions and was a central figure within the organization’s military leadership,’ the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on X. The IDF added his death ‘significantly degrades Hamas’ ability to reestablish its capabilities.’ An IDF official told Fox News that, in recent months, Sa’ad had been working to reestablish the terror group’s capabilities and weapons manufacturing in violation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The official also stated that, under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is allowed to strike targets that are actively engaging in terrorism.” (12/13/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/world/israel-announces-killed-one-architects-oct-7-attacks
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9) France: Farmers block roads to protest cow disease cull
Source: Le Monde [France]
“Farmers in southwest France blocked roads and set fire to bales of hay on Saturday, December 13 to protest the culling of cows due to a skin disease as the government said one million cattle would be vaccinated. French farmers have been angry over what they see as the government’s heavy-handed response to an outbreak of nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease. On Friday, veterinarians slaughtered a herd of more than 200 cows in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize near the Spanish border after discovering a single case of the sickness. The police had to disperse angry farmers to escort in a team to carry out the culling. … On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked traffic, while others were parked in front of public buildings, with farmers setting fire to bales of straw and tires.” (12/13/25)
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/12/13/french-farmers-block-roads-to-protest-cow-disease-cull_6748463_7.html
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10) Belarus: Regime frees Nobel winner Bialiatski, opposition figure Kalesnikava as US regime eases sanctions
Source: Reuters
“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava after two days of talks with an envoy for President Donald Trump, a U.S. statement said. In return, the United States agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. Potash is a key component in fertilisers, and the former Soviet state is a leading global producer. The prisoner release was by far the biggest by Lukashenko since Trump’s administration opened talks this year with the veteran authoritarian leader, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western governments had previously shunned him because of his crushing of dissent and backing for Russia’s war in Ukraine.” (12/13/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-lifts-sanctions-belarusian-potash-state-media-cite-trump-envoy-saying-2025-12-13/
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11) Pornhub reveals number of women watching X-rated videos is surging
Source: New York Post
“They’re clicking taboos to the curb. Pornhub has released its annual Year in Review report, revealing women are tuning in to X-rated videos at record rates. In 2025, the fairer sex made up a sizable 38 percent of all visitors to the adult website, a 14 percent surge since 2015. ‘Over the last decade, our statisticians have been tracing the proportion of female visitors to Pornhub,’ the company stated. ‘They have noticed an upward trend over the years, putting into question the dated umbrella statement: ‘It’s only men who watch porn.” In the Philippines, Colombia, and Argentina, women now make up a majority of Pornhub visitors. In Mexico, the stats were almost split: 48 percent of all visitors to the site this year were female. Meanwhile, American men are still more likely than their female counterparts to peruse porn, with just over a quarter of all searches (28 percent) conducted by women.” (12/13/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/13/lifestyle/pornhub-reveals-number-of-women-watching-x-rated-videos-is-surging-new-report-exposes-top-us-searches/
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12) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador on alleged cyberattack
Source: United Press International
“The German Foreign Ministry said it summoned the Russian ambassador Friday after accusing Moscow’s military intelligence of a cyberattack on air traffic control and attempted election interference. A spokesperson for the ministry said a hacker group behind the 2024 cyberattack likely has ties to GRU, Russia’s military intelligence. … A Russian propaganda group called Storm-1516 is accused of launching a targeted disinformation campaign to influence the election. The group allegedly spread misinformation about ballot manipulation, Green Party candidate Robert Habeck and now-Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the BBC reported.” (12/12/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/12/12/germany-Russian-ambassador-summoned-election/1091765550238/
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13) Syria: Three Americans killed in attack US regime blames on IS; Trump pledges retaliation
Source: SFGate
“President Donald Trump said Saturday that ‘there will be very serious retaliation’ after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group. ‘This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,’ he said in a social media post. The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was ‘devastated by what happened’ and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was ‘extremely angry and disturbed by this attack’. U.S. Central Command said three service members were wounded in an ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria.” (12/13/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/assailant-opens-fire-on-syrian-and-us-forces-in-21240584.php
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14) US DOJ Sues Four More States for Access to Detailed Voter Data
Source: US News & World Report
“The U.S. Justice Department is suing four more states as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country. The department filed federal lawsuits against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada on Thursday for ‘failing to produce statewide voter registration lists upon request [sic]. So far, 18 states have been sued, along with Fulton County in Georgia, which was sued for records related to the 2020 election. The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.” (12/12/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nevada/articles/2025-12-12/justice-department-sues-4-more-states-for-access-to-detailed-voter-data
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15) RI: Two dead, dead, nine injured at Brown University
Source: Providence Journal
“A shooting at Brown University has left at least two dead and nine injured on Saturday, Dec. 13. Two of the dead and eight of the injured have been confirmed as Brown University students. The school is still on lockdown as the shooter is not yet in custody. Providence police have released limited information about the suspected shooter – only that he is male, was wearing all black or dark clothing, and may be in his 30’s. … In what he described as the last regular update of the evening, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley emphasized that law enforcement has not received any additional credible information that there’s any ongoing threat.” (12/13/25)
https://www.providencejournal.com/live-story/news/crime/2025/12/13/brown-university-providence-rhode-island-active-shooter-live-updates/87754385007/
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16) Cambodia: Regime shuts border crossings with Thailand as fighting continues
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Cambodia has shut its border crossings with Thailand, as fighting continues between the two forces on Saturday despite US President Donald Trump earlier saying they had agreed to a ceasefire. The crossings will be closed until further notice, according to Cambodia’s interior ministry. Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he told Trump a ceasefire would only be possible after Cambodia had withdrawn all its forces and removed landmines. Thai officials said four soldiers were killed on Saturday, as both sides reported continued bombing and artillery exchanges. Cambodia has not been updating its military casualty figure. Cambodia’s defence ministry said that Thai fighter jets bombed hotel buildings and a bridge, while Thailand reported several civilians were injured in a Cambodian rocket attack. The four deaths on Saturday bring Thailand’s total military death toll since Monday to 15, with 270 others injured. It added that six civilians had also been injured.” (12/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0kkyx3vvxo
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17) Iran: Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi arrested, supporters say
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Supporters of 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi say she has been arrested while attending a memorial ceremony in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad. The Narges Foundation said on Friday that Mohammadi, 53, was arrested during an event honouring a human rights lawyer who recently died in unclear circumstances. Iranian authorities have not commented on her reported detention, and it remains uncertain whether she will be returned to prison to complete a previous sentence. The arrest comes amid a broader clampdown on activists and civil society figures as Iran faces sanctions, economic pressures and heightened regional tensions.” (12/12/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/12/nobel-peace-laureate-narges-mohammadi-arrested-in-iran-supporters-say
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18) CA: Giant, rare seven-armed sea creature spotted in Monterey Bay
Source: SFGate
“Scientists on California’s Central Coast recently spotted a giant, evasive seven-arm octopus while on a research expedition in Monterey Bay. The rare creature, called Haliphron atlanticus, was seen by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s biodiversity and biooptics team on Nov. 6, the institute confirmed to SFGATE via email. Prior to this sighting, scientists with MBARI had only seen the octopus four times in the past 35 years. Haliphron atlanticus was last seen by MBARI scientists in 2017, when they discovered the octopus is partial to a diet of jellyfish and gelatinous plankton. Last month, the team again witnessed the elusive animal. Led by senior scientist Steven Haddock, the MBARI team was studying marine life in the ocean’s midwater — a vast range between the water’s surface and the seafloor — when they came across Haliphron atlanticus at a depth of about 2,300 feet.” (12/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/seven-armed-octopus-california-monterey-21237565.php
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19) Congo: Fear grips Uvira as M23 rebels take control, displacing 200,000
Source: SFGate
“A climate of fear reigned Saturday in Uvira, a strategic city in eastern Congo, days after it fell to the Rwanda -backed M23 group, as fighting in the region escalated despite a U.S. mediated peace deal. The Associated Press gained rare access to the city, which was the Congo government’s last major foothold in South Kivu province after the provincial capital of Bukavu fell to the rebels in February. Its capture allows the rebels to consolidate a broad corridor of influence across the east. M23 said it took control of Uvira earlier this week, following a rapid offensive launched at the start of the month. Along with the more than 400 people killed, about 200,000 have been displaced, regional officials say. On Saturday, the situation in Uvira still had not returned to normal. There was absolute silence and no traffic, apart from military jeeps circulating on the empty streets.” (12/13/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/fear-grips-congo-s-uvira-as-m23-rebels-take-21240938.php
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20) Judge bars ICE gang from re-abducting Kilmar Abrego García at check-in
Source: Washington Post
“A federal judge on Friday barred U.S. immigration authorities from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego García, acting on fears raised by his lawyers that officials intended to take him into custody just hours after he was ordered released. Those concerns arose in response to government maneuvers in the wake of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s ruling Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been unlawfully detaining Abrego for months. Abrego, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant and longtime Maryland resident, became a flash point in the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. The White House had repeatedly called Abrego a smuggler and ‘a proven gang member,’ though those allegations are still pending in the courts, and threatened to deport him to countries in Africa or Central America.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/rKZ4m
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) First They Came for the Tourists …
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“America’s already crawling with creepy wannabe cops demanding — Third Reich or Soviet Union style — that people ‘show their papers’ as a condition of going just about anywhere or doing just about anything (including their jobs if the ICE gang happens to drop in on a workplace). If you think they won’t eventually escalate to browsing through YOUR shared memes, photos of cats and memories with your significant others, etc., think again.” (12/13/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20201
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22) They Were All Our Ancestors
Source: Liberal Currents
by Jason Kuznicki
“Thinking that you’re the privileged descendant of the conquerors has always been a key part of the mythology that every nation-state teaches to, and about, its favored ethnicity. Maybe you’re not a lineal descendant of the Founder Himself, but you’re still a part of a noble and honored bloodline. That’s why life is good for you, and perhaps why it’s hard for your neighbor. When the favored people claim the land that’s rightfully theirs, that’s progress …. The theory that a nation is made of the descendants of a band of conquering heroes is still both popular and normative among nationalists. Like the social contract story that developed in its shadow, the theory of the conquering heroes is incomplete. It just about always resounds in the midst of an actually unfinished conquest, or in a situation of semi-permanent social inequality.” (12/13/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/they-were-all-our-ancestors/
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23) Epstein’s last casualty could be grand jury secrecy
Source: The Hill
by Jonathan Turley
“There are few characters more repellent than the late Jeffrey Epstein. His life left a line of human wreckage and misery. Those associated with Epstein have also faced public backlash and recriminations throughout the years. Recently, however, the Epstein scandal took a new turn. Due to unprecedented access to once-sealed material, the public is now combing through emails, appointment books, and photos with a voracious interest in his private associations and contacts. Most of these people are not accused of any criminal conduct, mind you — just notorious association. The result has been the humiliation and condemnation of various individuals revealed in the files. The question is whether we should consider the implications of such transparency and how it can expose those who are not accused of any crime.” [editor’s note: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear” instantly disappears when it’s the powerful getting exposed – TLK] (12/13/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5647158-epstein-files-guilt-association/
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24) We Learned Leadership Flipping Burgers: Don’t Close America’s On-Ramp
Source: The Daily Economy
by Daniel J Smith & Scott Beaulier
“When Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani recently rallied with striking Starbucks workers, they trumpeted a ‘New York where every worker can live a life of decency.’ Mr. Mamdani promised a $30 minimum wage in the name of dignity on the campaign trail. Their intentions might be noble; their logic isn’t. By artificially hiking entry-level wages through political mandates rather than skills, productivity or experience, they don’t lift up workers; they wall off the very on-ramp to mobility. We know this firsthand. Neither of our first real jobs was glamorous. They were at McDonald’s in Iron Mountain, Michigan (Scott) and Kmart in Midland, Michigan (Dan).” (12/12/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/we-learned-leadership-flipping-burgers-dont-close-americas-on-ramp/
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25) Pareto Punishment
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“A ‘Pareto improvement’ (named for the 19th-century polymath Vilfredo Pareto) is a useful idea from economics: It is change that makes at least one party better off without making anyone worse off — because different people have different preferences and priorities, it is possible to reallocate goods in a way that is not zero-sum. … Being able to spot a Pareto opportunity is also a big part of how political negotiation works — at least it was back when negotiation and compromise were what politicians normally did with their time instead of being part-time pundits and full-time social-media trolls. Donald Trump likes to present himself as the great deal-maker …. but he is not very good at it …. he cannot calculate the trade-offs, because he lacks two pieces of information critical to any negotiation: He doesn’t understand what the other guy wants, and he doesn’t know what he wants.” (12/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/pareto-improvement-punishment-trump-economics/
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26) ICE Detention Is Even Deadlier Under Trump 2.0
Source: OtherWords
by Farrah Hassen
“Gabriel Garcia-Aviles was a 56-year-old grandfather with a work permit who’d been living in the US for over 30 years. He was a beloved member of his Southern California community. This fall, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Garcia-Aviles and sent him to the Adelanto immigration detention center. He died around a week later, with ICE only informing his family that he was in critical condition once he was on his deathbed. At the hospital, his daughter Mariel found him ‘unconscious, intubated,’ and with ‘dried blood on his forehead.’ He had ‘a cut on his tongue and blood on his lips’ and ‘broken teeth and bruising on his body,’ according to reporting from LA Taco. No clear cause of death was given, leaving his family shattered and still searching for answers. That’s the second death this year at Adelanto.” (12/13/25)
https://otherwords.org/ice-prisons-are-growing-deadlier/
-----
27) Americans Need More and Better “Third Places.” User Fees Can Help.
Source: Reason
by C Jarrett Dieterle & Shawn Regan
“As traditional gathering places disappear, market-based funding could expand parks, courts, and other spaces that help people reconnect without raising taxes.” (12/13/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/13/americans-need-more-and-better-third-places-user-fees-can-help/
-----
28) Ten Years Of Marriage Equality
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Anrew Sullivan
“My opponents feared it would destabilize marriage more generally. It didn’t. Marriage rates were 6.9 per 1,000 in 2015 and 6.1 today — a decline in line with the previous half-century. Not great, but there’s no sign that gay marriage had any serious impact. Divorce rates? They have actually improved since 2015: from 3.1 to 2.4 per 1,000 in 2023. … Married couples have higher household incomes, lower poverty rates, higher levels of employment, better health than unmarried ones, higher home-ownership rates — and report greater social acceptance. … queer activists, of course, loudly insisted that same-sex couples rejected the institution of marriage and would never join it. But the number of married gay men and lesbians more than doubled from 390,000 in 2015 to 823,000 now; and nearly 60 percent of same-sex cohabiting couples are now married, compared with 40 percent in domestic partnerships.” (12/12/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/ten-years-of-marriage-equality-471
-----
29) The Empire Is Scrambling To Fully Dominate Latin America
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“US forces have seized an oil tanker carrying some 1.8 million barrels of oil from Venezuela to Cuba as part of its ongoing series of warmongering escalations against the Maduro government. When asked what would be done with the oil, President Trump told the press, ‘We keep it, I guess.’ Meanwhile Chuck Schumer is refusing to oppose Trump’s regime change interventionism against Venezuela, and CNN just had former US intelligence official Beth Sanner on to proclaim that the Trump administration’s act of piracy ‘is absolutely normal.’ So Trump’s ostensible opposition in the political-media class are putting absolutely no inertia on this. The US pirating a Cuba-bound oil tanker from Venezuela illustrates how the empire is hurrying to shore up control over Latin America in the same way the US and Israel are quickly shoring up control over the middle east.” (12/12/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/12/the-empire-is-scrambling-to-fully-dominate-latin-america-and-other-notes/
-----
30) President Trump Is Now Triggering His Very Own MAGApocalypse
Source: The Daily Beast
by David Rothkopf
“It is hard to know whether Donald Trump or the MAGA movement he created is falling apart faster. The 79-year-old president is deteriorating rapidly before our eyes—cankles puffier, bruises and bandages on his hand more ever present. He’s nodding off at event after event, slurring his words, his behavior increasingly erratic. And he has become painfully sensitive to the fact that his decay is so apparent, going as far as suggesting that media outlets reporting about his health are guilty of treason. Of course, every effort he makes to prove he’s not one step away from melting into a bubbling orange puddle seems to make it clearer that he’s losing it. As bad as all that is, however, MAGA may be collapsing even more quickly than its creator.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/PxEbT
-----
31) Democrats divide on homelessness: Public safety vs. radical folly
Source: New York Post
by Betsy McCaughey
“Democratic pols are knocking heads over homelessness: One approach to the problem reflects reality, and the other is sheer lunacy. On the lunatic side, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is vowing to let homeless encampments spill into every Gotham neighborhood. And in Connecticut, Democratic state lawmakers are about to pass a law that will keep local officials from cracking down on living rough in parks or vehicles. But Democrats with higher aspirations, like California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom and Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu, are reading the political tea leaves — and distancing themselves as far as they can from such misplaced compassion. After all, Americans favor clearing homeless encampments by nearly two to one, an August AP-NORC/Harris poll found. The general public has it right: Freezing to death, being murdered, or dying of an overdose on a urine-soaked mattress does not equal kindness.” (12/12/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/12/opinion/democrats-divide-on-homelessness-public-safety-vs-radical-folly/
-----
32) The Indiana Vote Is an Inflection Point
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Chait
“In rejecting yesterday a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump, Indiana’s Republican-controlled senate did not merely deny Republicans two new U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections. They also engaged in a mass revolt against the president. … The significance of Indiana’s noncompliance lies not in the specifics of what was refused — attempts to gerrymander electoral maps are hardly unprecedented, even though a mid-decade battle violates norms — but in the act of refusal itself. Trump’s authoritarian project relies on the cultlike hold he has over his party. Republicans have come to understand that the cost of defying Trump is the death of their political career. … What politician is willing to sacrifice their career or their family’s safety for a single act of defiance Yet the spines of Indiana Republicans stiffened where so many others snapped.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/z1Rhg
-----
33) The Case Against American Intervention in Venezuela
Source: Common Dreams
by Angel Gomez
“As the USS Gerald R. Ford — the largest aircraft carrier afloat — casts its shadow along the Venezuelan coast, the United States must confront an uncomfortable question: What national interest is being protected by threatening a country that poses no military, territorial, or existential danger to the American republic? The answer, made clear by an array of respected American scholars, former officials, and ex-military insiders, has nothing to do with security. Instead, it arises from a familiar mixture of ideology, geopolitical control, and the old reflex of imperial overreach. This is not defense. This is theater — one part provocation, one part political opportunism, and no part necessity. Among the clearest voices cutting through the rhetoric is professor John Mearsheimer, perhaps the most prominent American realist in international relations. He does not mince words: Venezuela is not a threat to the United States.” (12/13/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/against-intervention-venezuela
-----
34) Why Lenin Won
Source: Law & Liberty
by Gary Saul Morson
“A newly translated volume in Solzhenitsyn’s Red Wheel series illustrates how revolutionaries seized control of Russia.” (12/12/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/why-lenin-won/
-----
35) The patheticness of Nick Fuentes
Source: spiked
by Tom Slater
“How do you solve a problem like Nick Fuentes, the racist dateless wonder whose stratospheric online rise has tickled the Zoomer right, horrified the Boomer sensibles and – until now – left the rest of our news feeds blissfully unmolested? Once a fringe figure on the American right, this neo-fascist gnome has now become an unignorable topic in The Discourse. … Perhaps the barmiest claim made about Fuentes is that he is the next stage of the populist revolt – a take that serves to both flatter his ego and vindicate the fever dreams of the anti-populist set. … Nick Fuentes is only a clownish mirror image of everything that Americans have been rebelling against.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/Dd68U
-----
36) Sgt. Trump: The Art of Implausible Deniability
Source: CounterPunch
by John G Russell
“Like the country he ‘leads,’ Donald J. Trump lives in a state of perpetual denial. Trump and his enablers like to present him as a hands-on president, a man at the top of his game, whether it’s on the golf course, in the Oval Office, or at televised cabinet briefings where sycophants pucker up and lather him with praise. … Yet when asked about the strike on boats in the Caribbean, Trump, the master of denial, ‘knows nothing.’ The pardon of former Honduran president and convicted cocaine kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández? ‘I don’t know who you’re talking about.'” (12/12/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/12/sgt-trump-the-art-of-implausible-deniability/
-----
37) Let’s Listen to Burke, Part Two
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“Truth is truth is truth. Truth never changes. Lies can, and do, change all the time, but the truth will never change. I ate a hot dog for supper last night. That is the truth. It will never change. It was true last night, it is true today, it will be true tomorrow, it will be true 2,000 years from now. That is why Solomon wrote, ‘buy the truth and sell it not’ (Proverbs 23:23). Only liars hate the truth. Edmund Burke wrote, over 200 years ago, some great moral and political truths that are just as true today as they were when Burke wrote them. Moral truth, just like historical truth, never changes because it is rooted in the very nature of an eternal, unchanging God. This is why we should study history: to learn the truths that never change and base our lives upon them. But the Left [sic] doesn’t want to do that because it’s all a power game to them.” (12/13/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2025/12/13/lets-listen-to-burke-part-two-n2667784
-----
38) Israel’s Biggest Con Trick: Hiding the True Numbers It Has Killed in Gaza
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jonathan Cook
“Israel has penned us all into a ‘debate,’ one entirely divorced from reality, that relates only to those killed directly by its bombs and gunfire – not the genocide it is waging by other means.” (12/12/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2025/12/11/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding-the-true-numbers-it-has-killed-in-gaza/
-----
39) Why does anyone want to buy Warner Brothers, anyway?
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“Break out the popcorn and a jumbo box of Raisinets, because just when we thought the Warner Bros. Discovery drama was over, it turned out we had barely gotten started. The suspense over the company’s pending sale is mounting, and new questions are developing faster than writers can resolve old ones. Which suitor will shareholders choose? Will regulators block the deal? Will any of these characters find happily ever after? … Eventually writers might resolve the biggest mystery: Why does anyone want to buy this company, anyway?” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/Njs5c
-----
40) Trump Wants to Dominate Venezuela, Not Liberate It
Source: Persuasion
by Quico Toro
“In bullying Maduro, Trump aspires to nothing loftier than the principle that, within any given sphere of influence, the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. … Having gone through the horrors we have gone through, I don’t begrudge Venezuelans their revenge fantasies against Maduro’s genuinely evil regime. Smart, sane Venezuelans I know will read this column, agree with every word in it, and still want Trump to start dropping bombs on Maduro and his cronies. At this point, the hatreds in Venezuela are tribal — once you’ve seen a government destroy not just your life but the life of everyone you care about, you will side with its enemies, whoever they may be. But we should at least have the presence of mind to grasp what we’re supporting.” (12/12/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/trump-wants-to-dominate-venezuela
-----
41) The Continuing Community College Conundrum
Source: The American Prospect
by Natalie Note
“Community colleges are a critical component of American higher education. For many working adults and lower-income students, these institutions provide an accessible, affordable pathway to obtaining a bachelor’s degree. A four-year college is an increasingly expensive proposition. For the 2025-2026 academic year, the average annual in-state tuition and fees at a public college totals $10,340; at a private college, it’s $39,307. With these financial pressures weighing heavily on young adults and their families, the opportunity to enroll in community college classes and transfer to a four-year institution is a cost-saving option well worth considering. But there’s a major issue facing the transfer students who choose this path: Many of them aren’t ready to do the work that their new schools demand.” (12/13/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/13/continuing-community-college-conundrum/
-----
42) Can Polarized Moral Politics be Bridged by a Neo-Aristotelian Philosophy of Freedom and Flourishing?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Edward W Younkins
“In her 2023 work The Two Moralities, social psychologist Ronnie Janoff-Bulman presents a framework for understanding political differences rooted in the most fundamental motivational distinction in psychology: approach and avoidance. She argues that these basic motivational systems give rise to two distinct moralities: a proscriptive morality that defends against negative outcomes and focuses on what we should not do, and a prescriptive morality that moves us toward positive outcomes and focuses on what we should do. The former can be viewed as a morality of justice that emphasizes rules, impartiality, law, order, universal principles, retributive justice, and equality of opportunity whereas the latter can be viewed as a morality of care that is rooted in empathy, connection, compassion, responsiveness, safety nets, and equality of outcomes.” (12/12/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/12/can-polarized-moral-politics-be-bridged.html
-----
43) The Great British Brain-Drain
Source: The American Conservative
by Luke Johnson
“For centuries, Britain and especially London have been a magnet for talent and capital from across the world. Historically the center of the British Empire, and latterly the only financial hub to rival New York, London was a truly global city — full of high earners, a cultural mecca, brilliantly connected to other centers of finance and industry. But recent times have not been good for London, or indeed Britain. I have lived and worked here for over 40 years, and I cannot recall a period when entrepreneurs and investors have been so demoralized.” (12/12/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-great-british-brain-drain/
-----
44) Trump’s Somali insults are a disgrace to the American dream
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“There are two schools of conservative immigration thought. The first, to which I subscribe, acknowledges immigrants often flee countries ravaged by crime, tyranny and disorder. That’s why many people come to the United States. Our nation’s settlers fled persecution. My father escaped Nazi Germany, which was literally putting people in ovens (although many Republicans lately have struggled with their views on such horrors). Under this long-standing view, Americans should welcome immigrants, but promote E Pluribus Unum. The other conservative view, which is clearly embraced by national conservatives and populists, is that America is fundamentally a white, Christian nation and that immigration, to whatever limited degree we allow it, should align with those demographics.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/yjnoQ
-----
45) Meet the Five Families of the Democratic Party
Source: Fox News
by David Marcus
“The Democratic Party is a very old and venerable institution, and as such, it has a lot of rules, a lot of buffers, and yes, this thing of theirs, it has centers of power. You might even call them ‘families’. Now, these families, so to speak, they aren’t at war with each other, at least not usually, but they do have their own interests and priorities, and sometimes conflicts do arise. To truly understand the party, and where it is going, you have to understand the Five Families who lead it. So, let’s take a look, one by one. Which crews are in ascendency? Which are in chaos? And what will it mean for the party as it seeks to take Congress and the White House and put every agency in the country right in its back pocket?” [editor’s note: Yes, viewing the Dramacrat pols like mob bosses does clarify it a bit – SAT] (12/13/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-meet-five-families-democratic-party
-----
46) Why Governments Prefer Cigarette Revenue over Safer Alternatives
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger Bate
“In December 2024, Congress did something unusual: it introduced a bill that openly acknowledges tobacco harm reduction. The POUCH Act of 2024, sponsored by Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and co-sponsored by Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), aims to prevent states and cities from banning or restricting FDA–authorized lower-risk products, including modern nicotine pouches and vaping products. … This should not be a radical idea, but within the chaos of American nicotine regulation, it almost counts as revolutionary. However, the bill also reveals a deeper truth about why the United States struggles so badly with harm reduction. It exposes the forces that keep smokers tied to cigarettes, protect government revenue streams, and effectively eliminate smaller innovators who cannot survive the regulatory gauntlet.” (12/12/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/why-governments-prefer-cigarette-revenue-over-safer-alternatives/
-----
47) Our Secret Constitution
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Gordon
“The Constitution of 1787 — though not without its good points — had two main defects. First, although the preamble recognized that Americans came together as ‘We the People’ to choose their own form of government, it failed to failed to rule out explicitly the argument of the South that the Constitution was formed by the states, with states having the right to secede if, in their judgment, the terms of the original compact had been violated. Second, it restricted popular sovereignty and called for government by an elite who were deemed fit to rule over the masses.” (12/12/25)
https://mises.org/friday-philosophy/our-secret-constitution
-----
48) How To Spot Rich And Poor Countries
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“For most of modern history, the perception of whether a country is ‘rich’ or ‘poor’ has centered on the wealth of its citizens. We look at median incomes and GDP per capita to divide the world into prosperous nations — usually Western democracies with median household incomes above $30,000 — and poorer ones in the developing world, where typical earnings are a fraction of that. This citizen-level view of wealth makes intuitive sense, because income dictates living standards. But there’s another, increasingly-important way of understanding national wealth: by examining the financial health of the state itself.” (12/12/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/12/how-to-spot-rich-and-poor-countries/
-----
49) Trump Administration Ramps Up Its War On Coal Miners
Source: In These Times
by Kim Kelly
“Millions of Americans gathered around their kitchen tables to visit with friends and family and indulge in favorite recipes late last month. Those who could luxuriate in a long holiday weekend did just that, but not everyone got to enjoy it; about a third of the American workforce still had to get up and go to work as usual on Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, that included at least a few members of the Trump administration’s Labor Department, who spent their holiday dealing yet another crippling blow to the nation’s beleaguered coal miners. On November 26th, the Department of Labor and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association filed a status update in an ongoing lawsuit over a long-awaited workplace safety regulation. Taken out of context, this may not sound all that exciting, but it’s actually quite devastating.” (12/11/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-trump-administration-has-found-a-sneaky-way-to-keep-killing-coal-miners
-----
50) Capitalism’s Communism?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“The problem is communism — in finance. That’s the world according to Robert Kiyosaki, says an Epoch Times profile. ‘Kiyosaki described the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank — established in 1913 with a goal of stabilizing the nation’s monetary supply following years of extreme volatility, and preventing panic — as a Marxist organization,’ Travis Gillmore writes. ‘When the Fed came to America, it was the end of America,’ states Kiyosaki, who co-authored a bestselling investment book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, in 1997, ‘and our freedom is being stolen via our money.'” (12/12/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/12/12/capitalisms-communism/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 321
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Venezuela is about to get photo bombed.” (12/13/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-321-venezuela-is-about-to
-----
52) Pink Flame of Liberty, 12/13/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Owen Morgan’s Abortion Argument … and the logical conclusion.” (12/13/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43whgrrjjFY
-----
53) The Reconstruction Agenda with Andy Craig, 12/13/25
Source: The UnPopulist
“What Tools Does Congress Still Retain to Control a Recalcitrant Executive? A Conversation with Josh Chafetz.” (12/13/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/what-tools-does-congress-still-retain
-----
54) Free Talk Live, 12/12/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Chalk wars in Keene, NH in 2011 :: Typical tragedy of the commons story :: AI threats :: Man jailed for decorating sewer covers, creating whimsy :: Sarah’s mayor candidate won :: Iowa is a police state :: Freedom in the fifty states :: Arkansas dumps PBS, Alabama keeps it despite hemorrhaging money :: US gov UFO study may have studied how to mentally harm people with delusions about UFOs and Skinwalkers :: Minnesota Somalian scam on welfare :: People claiming autism for fraud of the welfare system :: 2025-12-13 Hosts: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (12/12/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-12-13
-----
55) The Good Fight, 12/13/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“The Good Fight Club: Can Europe Control Its Fate?” (12/13/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-good-fight-club-13
-----
56) The Dispatch Podcast, 12/12/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Horseshoe Theory in Minnesota | Roundtable.” (12/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/horseshoe-theory-in-minnesota-roundtable/
-----
57) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 12/12/25
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Why Missouri Needs Early Literacy Reform with Cory Koedel and Avery Frank.” (12/12/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/why-missouri-needs-early-literacy-reform-with-cory-koedel-and-avery-frank/
-----
58) The Intercept Briefing, 12/12/12
Source: The Intercept
“Trump Has Appointed Himself Judge, Jury, and Executioner.” (12/12/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/12/venezuela-boat-strikes-video-press-coverage/
-----
59) The Business List, 12/12/25
Source: LP Alliance
“Your source for stories inside the [Libertarian Party], across the country, and around the world!” (12/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Ul5owr02E
-----
60) Galaxy Brain, 12/12/25
Source: The Atlantic
“How YouTube Ate Podcasts and TV.” (12/12/25)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2025/12/how-youtube-ate-podcasts-and-tv-with-rachel-martin-ashley-carmen-and-derek-thompson/685230/
-----
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/12/25
Source: Freedom Works
“Steve Swedberg, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Fed’s Risky Interest Rate Cut.'” (12/12/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-12-13_zfw12122025.mp3
-----
62) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/12/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages at Cratering Polls as GOP Losses Reveal Surprise Weakness.” (12/12/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/204337/trump-rages-cratering-polls-gop-losses-reveal-surprise-weakness
-----
63) PoliTicks, 12/12/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Institutional Failure Everywhere: College Football Scandal, European Leverage and Covid.” (12/12/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/institutional-failure-everywhere-college-football-scandal-european-leverage-covid
-----
64) Bulwark Takes, 12/12/25
Source: The Bulwark
“The State Department Abandons ‘Woke’ Calibri for Times New Roman.” (12/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKAQM1wnNYc
-----
65) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/12/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Unemployment Crisis 2025: Philip Patrick’s Warning Signs to Watch.” (12/12/25)
https://rumble.com/v72xnro-unemployment-crisis-2025-philip-patricks-warning-signs-to-watch.html
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Happy (Holi)Days Are Here Again? (Year-End Fundraiser Update)
1) Australia: Victim disarmament cultist dances in Bondi Beach victims’ blood
2) Thailand: Regime cuts Laos fuel route as Cambodia border conflict deepens
3) iRobot files for bankruptcy after bureaucrats prevent it from saving itself with Amazon acquisition
4) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling court convicts Lai
5) Chile: Kast wins presidential election
6) Cannabis stocks surge on report Trump seeks to ease restrictions
7) Astronomers Observe Star’s Wobbling Orbit, Confirming Einstein’s Frame-Dragging
8) Israel: Regime claims it has killed one of the architects of the October 7 attacks
9) France: Farmers block roads to protest cow disease cull
10) Belarus: Regime frees Nobel winner Bialiatski, opposition figure Kalesnikava as US regime eases sanctions
11) Pornhub reveals number of women watching X-rated videos is surging
12) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador on alleged cyberattack
13) Syria: Three Americans killed in attack US regime blames on IS; Trump pledges retaliation
14) US DOJ Sues Four More States for Access to Detailed Voter Data
15) RI: Two dead, dead, nine injured at Brown University
16) Cambodia: Regime shuts border crossings with Thailand as fighting continues
17) Iran: Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi arrested, supporters say
18) CA: Giant, rare seven-armed sea creature spotted in Monterey Bay
19) Congo: Fear grips Uvira as M23 rebels take control, displacing 200,000
20) Judge bars ICE gang from re-abducting Kilmar Abrego García at check-in
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) First They Came for the Tourists ...
22) They Were All Our Ancestors
23) Epstein’s last casualty could be grand jury secrecy
24) We Learned Leadership Flipping Burgers: Don’t Close America’s On-Ramp
25) Pareto Punishment
26) ICE Detention Is Even Deadlier Under Trump 2.0
27) Americans Need More and Better “Third Places.” User Fees Can Help.
28) Ten Years Of Marriage Equality
29) The Empire Is Scrambling To Fully Dominate Latin America
30) President Trump Is Now Triggering His Very Own MAGApocalypse
31) Democrats divide on homelessness: Public safety vs. radical folly
32) The Indiana Vote Is an Inflection Point
33) The Case Against American Intervention in Venezuela
34) Why Lenin Won
35) The patheticness of Nick Fuentes
36) Sgt. Trump: The Art of Implausible Deniability
37) Let’s Listen to Burke, Part Two
38) Israel’s Biggest Con Trick: Hiding the True Numbers It Has Killed in Gaza
39) Why does anyone want to buy Warner Brothers, anyway?
40) Trump Wants to Dominate Venezuela, Not Liberate It
41) The Continuing Community College Conundrum
42) Can Polarized Moral Politics be Bridged by a Neo-Aristotelian Philosophy of Freedom and Flourishing?
43) The Great British Brain-Drain
44) Trump’s Somali insults are a disgrace to the American dream
45) Meet the Five Families of the Democratic Party
46) Why Governments Prefer Cigarette Revenue over Safer Alternatives
47) Our Secret Constitution
48) How To Spot Rich And Poor Countries
49) Trump Administration Ramps Up Its War On Coal Miners
50) Capitalism’s Communism?
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 321
52) Pink Flame of Liberty, 12/13/25
53) The Reconstruction Agenda with Andy Craig, 12/13/25
54) Free Talk Live, 12/12/25
55) The Good Fight, 12/13/25
56) The Dispatch Podcast, 12/12/25
57) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 12/12/25
58) The Intercept Briefing, 12/12/12
59) The Business List, 12/12/25
60) Galaxy Brain, 12/12/25
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/12/25
62) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/12/25
63) PoliTicks, 12/12/25
64) Bulwark Takes, 12/12/25
65) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/12/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Happy (Holi)Days Are Here Again? (Year-End Fundraiser Update)
Hey, everyone ...
After a "zero-dollar weekend," our year-end fundraiser total remains stuck at $1,828.84.
"Stuck" is bad -- but we're less than $1,000 short of our goal.* Will you help make our holidays happier?
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT'S DAILY NEWSPAPER TODAY!
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
In the "good news" category, RRND is going to have a "real" office for the first time since 2002.
By "real office" I mean a little $700 camper I bought this weekend and parked behind our house.
It needs some work (that's an understatement), but I hope to be publishing RRND/FND out of it by next week. I've always worked from whatever home we're living in, but at the new (to us) house there's not a good segregated "office space" in the "open floor plan" layout. I'm up at 4:30am each day to bring you your daily dose of news, commentary, and podcasting; now I'll have to walk (10 feet or so) to work, too. The rent's not too high, but I hope you'll help with it:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
* Our goal is $5,501, but once we've raised the first half, supporter GL will "match funds" to get us there.
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1) Australia: Victim disarmament cultist dances in Bondi Beach victims’ blood
Soure: Associated Press
“Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday proposed tougher national [victim disarmament] laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead. Albanese said he would propose new restrictions, including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain. His proposals were announced after the authorities revealed that the older of the two gunmen — who were a father and son — had held a gun license for a decade and amassed his six guns legally. … At least 38 people were being treated in hospitals after the massacre on Sunday, when the two shooters fired indiscriminately on the beachfront festivities. Those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor. … The horror at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws primarily aimed at removing rapid-fire rifles from circulation.” (12/15/25)
https://apnews.com/article/australia-shooting-bondi-beach-sydney-3be76a51c820d547ee4697bd25c1bafd
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2) Thailand: Regime cuts Laos fuel route as Cambodia border conflict deepens
Source: Reuters
“Thailand’s military said on Monday that it has stopped fuel shipments passing through a border checkpoint with Laos because of fears they were being diverted to Cambodia, with which it is fighting a fierce border conflict. The Thai and Cambodian militaries are clashing at multiple locations along their 817 km (508 mile) land border, both sides said, with no signs of the fighting abating despite international efforts to negotiate a ceasefire, including calls by U.S. President Donald Trump. … Over half a million people have been displaced by the fighting, which has killed at least 38 on both sides over the past eight days, according to national authorities, who mounted a round of evacuations in July when the neighbours clashed for five days before Trump helped broker a truce.” (12/15/25)
https://archive.is/t9Gt2
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3) iRobot files for bankruptcy after bureaucrats prevent it from saving itself with Amazon acquisition
Source: Business Insider
“The parent company of Roomba, which has sold millions of cleaning robots, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday after 35 years of operation. In a Sunday press release, Massachusetts-based robotics company iRobot said it had filed for bankruptcy protection in the District of Delaware court. The company said that it would be wholly acquired by its main manufacturer and lender, vacuum cleaner maker Shenzhen PICEA. … iRobot went through a failed acquisition attempt by Amazon. In 2022, Amazon announced that it would buy iRobot for $1.7 billion, but pulled the deal in January 2024, citing regulatory hurdles in the US and Europe.” (12/14/25)
https://www.businessinsider.com/irobot-roomba-parent-company-bankruptcy-chapter-11-new-owner-picea-2025-12
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4) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling court convicts Lai
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The High Court of Hong Kong has convicted pro-democracy activist and newspaper founder Jimmy Lai on three charges related to accusations that he undermined China’s national security, as part of a widely scrutinised trial. Lai now faces the possibility of a life sentence in prison. On Monday morning, a panel of three judges found Lai, 78, guilty of two counts of conspiring with foreign forces to threaten national security and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious material.” (12/15/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/15/hong-kong-court-convicts-democracy-activist-jimmy-lai-on-conspiracy-charges
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5) Chile: Kast wins presidential election
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Chile has elected the far-right wing José Antonio Kast to be its next president, after an election campaign that was dominated by themes of security, immigration and crime. Kast beat the governing left-wing coalition candidate Jeanette Jara decisively with more than 58% of the vote in his third attempt at running for president. It marks the biggest shift to the right since the end of Chile’s military dictatorship in 1990. Kast has openly praised Chile’s former right-wing dictator, Augusto Pinochet.” (12/14/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kde07lvvro
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6) Cannabis stocks surge on report Trump seeks to ease restrictions
Source: Fox Business
“Shares of cannabis companies jumped on Friday after the Washington Post reported U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to push the government to dramatically loosen federal restrictions on marijuana. U.S.-listed shares of Tilray Brands gained 35%, while SNDL, Canopy Growth and ETF AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis were up between 20% and 31% in morning trading. According to the report from Thursday, Trump plans to direct agencies to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, reducing oversight of the plant and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers and other drugs. … Trump’s administration has been looking to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a shift that could ease criminal penalties and reshape the industry through potentially lower taxes and by making it easier to secure funding.” (12/12/25)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/cannabis-stocks-surge-report-trump-seeks-ease-restrictions
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7) Astronomers Observe Star’s Wobbling Orbit, Confirming Einstein’s Frame-Dragging
Source: Gadgets 360 [India]
“Astronomers have seen the orbit of a star wobbling around a black hole — a spectacular dance in the cosmos that serves as one of the very few direct confirmations of Einstein’s general theory of relativity made over 100 years ago. The result, derived from periodic changes in X-ray and radio emissions in a tidal disruption event, is essentially a new window onto the workings of a spinning black hole that warps space and time around it. According to the study, researchers analysing the tidal disruption event AT2020afhd noticed that both the swirling disk of stellar debris and the black hole’s powerful jets were wobbling in unison, repeating roughly every 20 days. This motion matches a phenomenon called frame-dragging, where a rotating black hole literally drags spacetime around with it — an effect first described by Einstein and later quantified by Josef Lense and Hans Thirring.” (12/12/25)
https://www.gadgets360.com/science/news/star-s-wobbling-orbit-confirms-einstein-s-frame-dragging-around-a-spinning-black-hole-9791382
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8) Israel: Regime claims it has killed one of the architects of the October 7 attacks
Source: Fox News
“Israel announced Saturday it had killed Ra’ad Sa’ad, the head of the Weapons Production Headquarters in Hamas’[s] military wing and one of the architects of Oct. 7. ‘Sa’ad was one of the last remaining veteran senior militants in the Gaza Strip and a close associate of Marwan Issa, the deputy head of Hamas’ military wing. He held several senior positions and was a central figure within the organization’s military leadership,’ the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on X. The IDF added his death ‘significantly degrades Hamas’ ability to reestablish its capabilities.’ An IDF official told Fox News that, in recent months, Sa’ad had been working to reestablish the terror group’s capabilities and weapons manufacturing in violation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The official also stated that, under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is allowed to strike targets that are actively engaging in terrorism.” (12/13/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/world/israel-announces-killed-one-architects-oct-7-attacks
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9) France: Farmers block roads to protest cow disease cull
Source: Le Monde [France]
“Farmers in southwest France blocked roads and set fire to bales of hay on Saturday, December 13 to protest the culling of cows due to a skin disease as the government said one million cattle would be vaccinated. French farmers have been angry over what they see as the government’s heavy-handed response to an outbreak of nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease. On Friday, veterinarians slaughtered a herd of more than 200 cows in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize near the Spanish border after discovering a single case of the sickness. The police had to disperse angry farmers to escort in a team to carry out the culling. … On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked traffic, while others were parked in front of public buildings, with farmers setting fire to bales of straw and tires.” (12/13/25)
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/12/13/french-farmers-block-roads-to-protest-cow-disease-cull_6748463_7.html
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10) Belarus: Regime frees Nobel winner Bialiatski, opposition figure Kalesnikava as US regime eases sanctions
Source: Reuters
“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava after two days of talks with an envoy for President Donald Trump, a U.S. statement said. In return, the United States agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. Potash is a key component in fertilisers, and the former Soviet state is a leading global producer. The prisoner release was by far the biggest by Lukashenko since Trump’s administration opened talks this year with the veteran authoritarian leader, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western governments had previously shunned him because of his crushing of dissent and backing for Russia’s war in Ukraine.” (12/13/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-lifts-sanctions-belarusian-potash-state-media-cite-trump-envoy-saying-2025-12-13/
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11) Pornhub reveals number of women watching X-rated videos is surging
Source: New York Post
“They’re clicking taboos to the curb. Pornhub has released its annual Year in Review report, revealing women are tuning in to X-rated videos at record rates. In 2025, the fairer sex made up a sizable 38 percent of all visitors to the adult website, a 14 percent surge since 2015. ‘Over the last decade, our statisticians have been tracing the proportion of female visitors to Pornhub,’ the company stated. ‘They have noticed an upward trend over the years, putting into question the dated umbrella statement: ‘It’s only men who watch porn.” In the Philippines, Colombia, and Argentina, women now make up a majority of Pornhub visitors. In Mexico, the stats were almost split: 48 percent of all visitors to the site this year were female. Meanwhile, American men are still more likely than their female counterparts to peruse porn, with just over a quarter of all searches (28 percent) conducted by women.” (12/13/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/13/lifestyle/pornhub-reveals-number-of-women-watching-x-rated-videos-is-surging-new-report-exposes-top-us-searches/
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12) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador on alleged cyberattack
Source: United Press International
“The German Foreign Ministry said it summoned the Russian ambassador Friday after accusing Moscow’s military intelligence of a cyberattack on air traffic control and attempted election interference. A spokesperson for the ministry said a hacker group behind the 2024 cyberattack likely has ties to GRU, Russia’s military intelligence. … A Russian propaganda group called Storm-1516 is accused of launching a targeted disinformation campaign to influence the election. The group allegedly spread misinformation about ballot manipulation, Green Party candidate Robert Habeck and now-Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the BBC reported.” (12/12/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/12/12/germany-Russian-ambassador-summoned-election/1091765550238/
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13) Syria: Three Americans killed in attack US regime blames on IS; Trump pledges retaliation
Source: SFGate
“President Donald Trump said Saturday that ‘there will be very serious retaliation’ after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group. ‘This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,’ he said in a social media post. The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was ‘devastated by what happened’ and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was ‘extremely angry and disturbed by this attack’. U.S. Central Command said three service members were wounded in an ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria.” (12/13/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/assailant-opens-fire-on-syrian-and-us-forces-in-21240584.php
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14) US DOJ Sues Four More States for Access to Detailed Voter Data
Source: US News & World Report
“The U.S. Justice Department is suing four more states as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country. The department filed federal lawsuits against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada on Thursday for ‘failing to produce statewide voter registration lists upon request [sic]. So far, 18 states have been sued, along with Fulton County in Georgia, which was sued for records related to the 2020 election. The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.” (12/12/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nevada/articles/2025-12-12/justice-department-sues-4-more-states-for-access-to-detailed-voter-data
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15) RI: Two dead, dead, nine injured at Brown University
Source: Providence Journal
“A shooting at Brown University has left at least two dead and nine injured on Saturday, Dec. 13. Two of the dead and eight of the injured have been confirmed as Brown University students. The school is still on lockdown as the shooter is not yet in custody. Providence police have released limited information about the suspected shooter – only that he is male, was wearing all black or dark clothing, and may be in his 30’s. … In what he described as the last regular update of the evening, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley emphasized that law enforcement has not received any additional credible information that there’s any ongoing threat.” (12/13/25)
https://www.providencejournal.com/live-story/news/crime/2025/12/13/brown-university-providence-rhode-island-active-shooter-live-updates/87754385007/
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16) Cambodia: Regime shuts border crossings with Thailand as fighting continues
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Cambodia has shut its border crossings with Thailand, as fighting continues between the two forces on Saturday despite US President Donald Trump earlier saying they had agreed to a ceasefire. The crossings will be closed until further notice, according to Cambodia’s interior ministry. Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he told Trump a ceasefire would only be possible after Cambodia had withdrawn all its forces and removed landmines. Thai officials said four soldiers were killed on Saturday, as both sides reported continued bombing and artillery exchanges. Cambodia has not been updating its military casualty figure. Cambodia’s defence ministry said that Thai fighter jets bombed hotel buildings and a bridge, while Thailand reported several civilians were injured in a Cambodian rocket attack. The four deaths on Saturday bring Thailand’s total military death toll since Monday to 15, with 270 others injured. It added that six civilians had also been injured.” (12/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0kkyx3vvxo
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17) Iran: Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi arrested, supporters say
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Supporters of 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi say she has been arrested while attending a memorial ceremony in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad. The Narges Foundation said on Friday that Mohammadi, 53, was arrested during an event honouring a human rights lawyer who recently died in unclear circumstances. Iranian authorities have not commented on her reported detention, and it remains uncertain whether she will be returned to prison to complete a previous sentence. The arrest comes amid a broader clampdown on activists and civil society figures as Iran faces sanctions, economic pressures and heightened regional tensions.” (12/12/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/12/nobel-peace-laureate-narges-mohammadi-arrested-in-iran-supporters-say
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18) CA: Giant, rare seven-armed sea creature spotted in Monterey Bay
Source: SFGate
“Scientists on California’s Central Coast recently spotted a giant, evasive seven-arm octopus while on a research expedition in Monterey Bay. The rare creature, called Haliphron atlanticus, was seen by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s biodiversity and biooptics team on Nov. 6, the institute confirmed to SFGATE via email. Prior to this sighting, scientists with MBARI had only seen the octopus four times in the past 35 years. Haliphron atlanticus was last seen by MBARI scientists in 2017, when they discovered the octopus is partial to a diet of jellyfish and gelatinous plankton. Last month, the team again witnessed the elusive animal. Led by senior scientist Steven Haddock, the MBARI team was studying marine life in the ocean’s midwater — a vast range between the water’s surface and the seafloor — when they came across Haliphron atlanticus at a depth of about 2,300 feet.” (12/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/seven-armed-octopus-california-monterey-21237565.php
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19) Congo: Fear grips Uvira as M23 rebels take control, displacing 200,000
Source: SFGate
“A climate of fear reigned Saturday in Uvira, a strategic city in eastern Congo, days after it fell to the Rwanda -backed M23 group, as fighting in the region escalated despite a U.S. mediated peace deal. The Associated Press gained rare access to the city, which was the Congo government’s last major foothold in South Kivu province after the provincial capital of Bukavu fell to the rebels in February. Its capture allows the rebels to consolidate a broad corridor of influence across the east. M23 said it took control of Uvira earlier this week, following a rapid offensive launched at the start of the month. Along with the more than 400 people killed, about 200,000 have been displaced, regional officials say. On Saturday, the situation in Uvira still had not returned to normal. There was absolute silence and no traffic, apart from military jeeps circulating on the empty streets.” (12/13/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/fear-grips-congo-s-uvira-as-m23-rebels-take-21240938.php
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20) Judge bars ICE gang from re-abducting Kilmar Abrego García at check-in
Source: Washington Post
“A federal judge on Friday barred U.S. immigration authorities from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego García, acting on fears raised by his lawyers that officials intended to take him into custody just hours after he was ordered released. Those concerns arose in response to government maneuvers in the wake of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s ruling Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been unlawfully detaining Abrego for months. Abrego, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant and longtime Maryland resident, became a flash point in the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. The White House had repeatedly called Abrego a smuggler and ‘a proven gang member,’ though those allegations are still pending in the courts, and threatened to deport him to countries in Africa or Central America.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/rKZ4m
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) First They Came for the Tourists …
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“America’s already crawling with creepy wannabe cops demanding — Third Reich or Soviet Union style — that people ‘show their papers’ as a condition of going just about anywhere or doing just about anything (including their jobs if the ICE gang happens to drop in on a workplace). If you think they won’t eventually escalate to browsing through YOUR shared memes, photos of cats and memories with your significant others, etc., think again.” (12/13/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20201
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22) They Were All Our Ancestors
Source: Liberal Currents
by Jason Kuznicki
“Thinking that you’re the privileged descendant of the conquerors has always been a key part of the mythology that every nation-state teaches to, and about, its favored ethnicity. Maybe you’re not a lineal descendant of the Founder Himself, but you’re still a part of a noble and honored bloodline. That’s why life is good for you, and perhaps why it’s hard for your neighbor. When the favored people claim the land that’s rightfully theirs, that’s progress …. The theory that a nation is made of the descendants of a band of conquering heroes is still both popular and normative among nationalists. Like the social contract story that developed in its shadow, the theory of the conquering heroes is incomplete. It just about always resounds in the midst of an actually unfinished conquest, or in a situation of semi-permanent social inequality.” (12/13/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/they-were-all-our-ancestors/
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23) Epstein’s last casualty could be grand jury secrecy
Source: The Hill
by Jonathan Turley
“There are few characters more repellent than the late Jeffrey Epstein. His life left a line of human wreckage and misery. Those associated with Epstein have also faced public backlash and recriminations throughout the years. Recently, however, the Epstein scandal took a new turn. Due to unprecedented access to once-sealed material, the public is now combing through emails, appointment books, and photos with a voracious interest in his private associations and contacts. Most of these people are not accused of any criminal conduct, mind you — just notorious association. The result has been the humiliation and condemnation of various individuals revealed in the files. The question is whether we should consider the implications of such transparency and how it can expose those who are not accused of any crime.” [editor’s note: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear” instantly disappears when it’s the powerful getting exposed – TLK] (12/13/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5647158-epstein-files-guilt-association/
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24) We Learned Leadership Flipping Burgers: Don’t Close America’s On-Ramp
Source: The Daily Economy
by Daniel J Smith & Scott Beaulier
“When Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani recently rallied with striking Starbucks workers, they trumpeted a ‘New York where every worker can live a life of decency.’ Mr. Mamdani promised a $30 minimum wage in the name of dignity on the campaign trail. Their intentions might be noble; their logic isn’t. By artificially hiking entry-level wages through political mandates rather than skills, productivity or experience, they don’t lift up workers; they wall off the very on-ramp to mobility. We know this firsthand. Neither of our first real jobs was glamorous. They were at McDonald’s in Iron Mountain, Michigan (Scott) and Kmart in Midland, Michigan (Dan).” (12/12/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/we-learned-leadership-flipping-burgers-dont-close-americas-on-ramp/
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25) Pareto Punishment
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“A ‘Pareto improvement’ (named for the 19th-century polymath Vilfredo Pareto) is a useful idea from economics: It is change that makes at least one party better off without making anyone worse off — because different people have different preferences and priorities, it is possible to reallocate goods in a way that is not zero-sum. … Being able to spot a Pareto opportunity is also a big part of how political negotiation works — at least it was back when negotiation and compromise were what politicians normally did with their time instead of being part-time pundits and full-time social-media trolls. Donald Trump likes to present himself as the great deal-maker …. but he is not very good at it …. he cannot calculate the trade-offs, because he lacks two pieces of information critical to any negotiation: He doesn’t understand what the other guy wants, and he doesn’t know what he wants.” (12/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/pareto-improvement-punishment-trump-economics/
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26) ICE Detention Is Even Deadlier Under Trump 2.0
Source: OtherWords
by Farrah Hassen
“Gabriel Garcia-Aviles was a 56-year-old grandfather with a work permit who’d been living in the US for over 30 years. He was a beloved member of his Southern California community. This fall, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Garcia-Aviles and sent him to the Adelanto immigration detention center. He died around a week later, with ICE only informing his family that he was in critical condition once he was on his deathbed. At the hospital, his daughter Mariel found him ‘unconscious, intubated,’ and with ‘dried blood on his forehead.’ He had ‘a cut on his tongue and blood on his lips’ and ‘broken teeth and bruising on his body,’ according to reporting from LA Taco. No clear cause of death was given, leaving his family shattered and still searching for answers. That’s the second death this year at Adelanto.” (12/13/25)
https://otherwords.org/ice-prisons-are-growing-deadlier/
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27) Americans Need More and Better “Third Places.” User Fees Can Help.
Source: Reason
by C Jarrett Dieterle & Shawn Regan
“As traditional gathering places disappear, market-based funding could expand parks, courts, and other spaces that help people reconnect without raising taxes.” (12/13/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/13/americans-need-more-and-better-third-places-user-fees-can-help/
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28) Ten Years Of Marriage Equality
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Anrew Sullivan
“My opponents feared it would destabilize marriage more generally. It didn’t. Marriage rates were 6.9 per 1,000 in 2015 and 6.1 today — a decline in line with the previous half-century. Not great, but there’s no sign that gay marriage had any serious impact. Divorce rates? They have actually improved since 2015: from 3.1 to 2.4 per 1,000 in 2023. … Married couples have higher household incomes, lower poverty rates, higher levels of employment, better health than unmarried ones, higher home-ownership rates — and report greater social acceptance. … queer activists, of course, loudly insisted that same-sex couples rejected the institution of marriage and would never join it. But the number of married gay men and lesbians more than doubled from 390,000 in 2015 to 823,000 now; and nearly 60 percent of same-sex cohabiting couples are now married, compared with 40 percent in domestic partnerships.” (12/12/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/ten-years-of-marriage-equality-471
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29) The Empire Is Scrambling To Fully Dominate Latin America
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“US forces have seized an oil tanker carrying some 1.8 million barrels of oil from Venezuela to Cuba as part of its ongoing series of warmongering escalations against the Maduro government. When asked what would be done with the oil, President Trump told the press, ‘We keep it, I guess.’ Meanwhile Chuck Schumer is refusing to oppose Trump’s regime change interventionism against Venezuela, and CNN just had former US intelligence official Beth Sanner on to proclaim that the Trump administration’s act of piracy ‘is absolutely normal.’ So Trump’s ostensible opposition in the political-media class are putting absolutely no inertia on this. The US pirating a Cuba-bound oil tanker from Venezuela illustrates how the empire is hurrying to shore up control over Latin America in the same way the US and Israel are quickly shoring up control over the middle east.” (12/12/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/12/the-empire-is-scrambling-to-fully-dominate-latin-america-and-other-notes/
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30) President Trump Is Now Triggering His Very Own MAGApocalypse
Source: The Daily Beast
by David Rothkopf
“It is hard to know whether Donald Trump or the MAGA movement he created is falling apart faster. The 79-year-old president is deteriorating rapidly before our eyes—cankles puffier, bruises and bandages on his hand more ever present. He’s nodding off at event after event, slurring his words, his behavior increasingly erratic. And he has become painfully sensitive to the fact that his decay is so apparent, going as far as suggesting that media outlets reporting about his health are guilty of treason. Of course, every effort he makes to prove he’s not one step away from melting into a bubbling orange puddle seems to make it clearer that he’s losing it. As bad as all that is, however, MAGA may be collapsing even more quickly than its creator.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/PxEbT
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31) Democrats divide on homelessness: Public safety vs. radical folly
Source: New York Post
by Betsy McCaughey
“Democratic pols are knocking heads over homelessness: One approach to the problem reflects reality, and the other is sheer lunacy. On the lunatic side, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is vowing to let homeless encampments spill into every Gotham neighborhood. And in Connecticut, Democratic state lawmakers are about to pass a law that will keep local officials from cracking down on living rough in parks or vehicles. But Democrats with higher aspirations, like California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom and Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu, are reading the political tea leaves — and distancing themselves as far as they can from such misplaced compassion. After all, Americans favor clearing homeless encampments by nearly two to one, an August AP-NORC/Harris poll found. The general public has it right: Freezing to death, being murdered, or dying of an overdose on a urine-soaked mattress does not equal kindness.” (12/12/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/12/opinion/democrats-divide-on-homelessness-public-safety-vs-radical-folly/
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32) The Indiana Vote Is an Inflection Point
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Chait
“In rejecting yesterday a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump, Indiana’s Republican-controlled senate did not merely deny Republicans two new U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections. They also engaged in a mass revolt against the president. … The significance of Indiana’s noncompliance lies not in the specifics of what was refused — attempts to gerrymander electoral maps are hardly unprecedented, even though a mid-decade battle violates norms — but in the act of refusal itself. Trump’s authoritarian project relies on the cultlike hold he has over his party. Republicans have come to understand that the cost of defying Trump is the death of their political career. … What politician is willing to sacrifice their career or their family’s safety for a single act of defiance Yet the spines of Indiana Republicans stiffened where so many others snapped.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/z1Rhg
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33) The Case Against American Intervention in Venezuela
Source: Common Dreams
by Angel Gomez
“As the USS Gerald R. Ford — the largest aircraft carrier afloat — casts its shadow along the Venezuelan coast, the United States must confront an uncomfortable question: What national interest is being protected by threatening a country that poses no military, territorial, or existential danger to the American republic? The answer, made clear by an array of respected American scholars, former officials, and ex-military insiders, has nothing to do with security. Instead, it arises from a familiar mixture of ideology, geopolitical control, and the old reflex of imperial overreach. This is not defense. This is theater — one part provocation, one part political opportunism, and no part necessity. Among the clearest voices cutting through the rhetoric is professor John Mearsheimer, perhaps the most prominent American realist in international relations. He does not mince words: Venezuela is not a threat to the United States.” (12/13/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/against-intervention-venezuela
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34) Why Lenin Won
Source: Law & Liberty
by Gary Saul Morson
“A newly translated volume in Solzhenitsyn’s Red Wheel series illustrates how revolutionaries seized control of Russia.” (12/12/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/why-lenin-won/
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35) The patheticness of Nick Fuentes
Source: spiked
by Tom Slater
“How do you solve a problem like Nick Fuentes, the racist dateless wonder whose stratospheric online rise has tickled the Zoomer right, horrified the Boomer sensibles and – until now – left the rest of our news feeds blissfully unmolested? Once a fringe figure on the American right, this neo-fascist gnome has now become an unignorable topic in The Discourse. … Perhaps the barmiest claim made about Fuentes is that he is the next stage of the populist revolt – a take that serves to both flatter his ego and vindicate the fever dreams of the anti-populist set. … Nick Fuentes is only a clownish mirror image of everything that Americans have been rebelling against.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/Dd68U
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36) Sgt. Trump: The Art of Implausible Deniability
Source: CounterPunch
by John G Russell
“Like the country he ‘leads,’ Donald J. Trump lives in a state of perpetual denial. Trump and his enablers like to present him as a hands-on president, a man at the top of his game, whether it’s on the golf course, in the Oval Office, or at televised cabinet briefings where sycophants pucker up and lather him with praise. … Yet when asked about the strike on boats in the Caribbean, Trump, the master of denial, ‘knows nothing.’ The pardon of former Honduran president and convicted cocaine kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández? ‘I don’t know who you’re talking about.'” (12/12/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/12/sgt-trump-the-art-of-implausible-deniability/
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37) Let’s Listen to Burke, Part Two
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“Truth is truth is truth. Truth never changes. Lies can, and do, change all the time, but the truth will never change. I ate a hot dog for supper last night. That is the truth. It will never change. It was true last night, it is true today, it will be true tomorrow, it will be true 2,000 years from now. That is why Solomon wrote, ‘buy the truth and sell it not’ (Proverbs 23:23). Only liars hate the truth. Edmund Burke wrote, over 200 years ago, some great moral and political truths that are just as true today as they were when Burke wrote them. Moral truth, just like historical truth, never changes because it is rooted in the very nature of an eternal, unchanging God. This is why we should study history: to learn the truths that never change and base our lives upon them. But the Left [sic] doesn’t want to do that because it’s all a power game to them.” (12/13/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2025/12/13/lets-listen-to-burke-part-two-n2667784
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38) Israel’s Biggest Con Trick: Hiding the True Numbers It Has Killed in Gaza
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jonathan Cook
“Israel has penned us all into a ‘debate,’ one entirely divorced from reality, that relates only to those killed directly by its bombs and gunfire – not the genocide it is waging by other means.” (12/12/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2025/12/11/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding-the-true-numbers-it-has-killed-in-gaza/
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39) Why does anyone want to buy Warner Brothers, anyway?
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“Break out the popcorn and a jumbo box of Raisinets, because just when we thought the Warner Bros. Discovery drama was over, it turned out we had barely gotten started. The suspense over the company’s pending sale is mounting, and new questions are developing faster than writers can resolve old ones. Which suitor will shareholders choose? Will regulators block the deal? Will any of these characters find happily ever after? … Eventually writers might resolve the biggest mystery: Why does anyone want to buy this company, anyway?” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/Njs5c
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40) Trump Wants to Dominate Venezuela, Not Liberate It
Source: Persuasion
by Quico Toro
“In bullying Maduro, Trump aspires to nothing loftier than the principle that, within any given sphere of influence, the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. … Having gone through the horrors we have gone through, I don’t begrudge Venezuelans their revenge fantasies against Maduro’s genuinely evil regime. Smart, sane Venezuelans I know will read this column, agree with every word in it, and still want Trump to start dropping bombs on Maduro and his cronies. At this point, the hatreds in Venezuela are tribal — once you’ve seen a government destroy not just your life but the life of everyone you care about, you will side with its enemies, whoever they may be. But we should at least have the presence of mind to grasp what we’re supporting.” (12/12/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/trump-wants-to-dominate-venezuela
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41) The Continuing Community College Conundrum
Source: The American Prospect
by Natalie Note
“Community colleges are a critical component of American higher education. For many working adults and lower-income students, these institutions provide an accessible, affordable pathway to obtaining a bachelor’s degree. A four-year college is an increasingly expensive proposition. For the 2025-2026 academic year, the average annual in-state tuition and fees at a public college totals $10,340; at a private college, it’s $39,307. With these financial pressures weighing heavily on young adults and their families, the opportunity to enroll in community college classes and transfer to a four-year institution is a cost-saving option well worth considering. But there’s a major issue facing the transfer students who choose this path: Many of them aren’t ready to do the work that their new schools demand.” (12/13/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/13/continuing-community-college-conundrum/
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42) Can Polarized Moral Politics be Bridged by a Neo-Aristotelian Philosophy of Freedom and Flourishing?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Edward W Younkins
“In her 2023 work The Two Moralities, social psychologist Ronnie Janoff-Bulman presents a framework for understanding political differences rooted in the most fundamental motivational distinction in psychology: approach and avoidance. She argues that these basic motivational systems give rise to two distinct moralities: a proscriptive morality that defends against negative outcomes and focuses on what we should not do, and a prescriptive morality that moves us toward positive outcomes and focuses on what we should do. The former can be viewed as a morality of justice that emphasizes rules, impartiality, law, order, universal principles, retributive justice, and equality of opportunity whereas the latter can be viewed as a morality of care that is rooted in empathy, connection, compassion, responsiveness, safety nets, and equality of outcomes.” (12/12/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/12/can-polarized-moral-politics-be-bridged.html
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43) The Great British Brain-Drain
Source: The American Conservative
by Luke Johnson
“For centuries, Britain and especially London have been a magnet for talent and capital from across the world. Historically the center of the British Empire, and latterly the only financial hub to rival New York, London was a truly global city — full of high earners, a cultural mecca, brilliantly connected to other centers of finance and industry. But recent times have not been good for London, or indeed Britain. I have lived and worked here for over 40 years, and I cannot recall a period when entrepreneurs and investors have been so demoralized.” (12/12/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-great-british-brain-drain/
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44) Trump’s Somali insults are a disgrace to the American dream
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“There are two schools of conservative immigration thought. The first, to which I subscribe, acknowledges immigrants often flee countries ravaged by crime, tyranny and disorder. That’s why many people come to the United States. Our nation’s settlers fled persecution. My father escaped Nazi Germany, which was literally putting people in ovens (although many Republicans lately have struggled with their views on such horrors). Under this long-standing view, Americans should welcome immigrants, but promote E Pluribus Unum. The other conservative view, which is clearly embraced by national conservatives and populists, is that America is fundamentally a white, Christian nation and that immigration, to whatever limited degree we allow it, should align with those demographics.” (12/12/25)
https://archive.is/yjnoQ
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45) Meet the Five Families of the Democratic Party
Source: Fox News
by David Marcus
“The Democratic Party is a very old and venerable institution, and as such, it has a lot of rules, a lot of buffers, and yes, this thing of theirs, it has centers of power. You might even call them ‘families’. Now, these families, so to speak, they aren’t at war with each other, at least not usually, but they do have their own interests and priorities, and sometimes conflicts do arise. To truly understand the party, and where it is going, you have to understand the Five Families who lead it. So, let’s take a look, one by one. Which crews are in ascendency? Which are in chaos? And what will it mean for the party as it seeks to take Congress and the White House and put every agency in the country right in its back pocket?” [editor’s note: Yes, viewing the Dramacrat pols like mob bosses does clarify it a bit – SAT] (12/13/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-meet-five-families-democratic-party
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46) Why Governments Prefer Cigarette Revenue over Safer Alternatives
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger Bate
“In December 2024, Congress did something unusual: it introduced a bill that openly acknowledges tobacco harm reduction. The POUCH Act of 2024, sponsored by Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and co-sponsored by Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), aims to prevent states and cities from banning or restricting FDA–authorized lower-risk products, including modern nicotine pouches and vaping products. … This should not be a radical idea, but within the chaos of American nicotine regulation, it almost counts as revolutionary. However, the bill also reveals a deeper truth about why the United States struggles so badly with harm reduction. It exposes the forces that keep smokers tied to cigarettes, protect government revenue streams, and effectively eliminate smaller innovators who cannot survive the regulatory gauntlet.” (12/12/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/why-governments-prefer-cigarette-revenue-over-safer-alternatives/
-----
47) Our Secret Constitution
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Gordon
“The Constitution of 1787 — though not without its good points — had two main defects. First, although the preamble recognized that Americans came together as ‘We the People’ to choose their own form of government, it failed to failed to rule out explicitly the argument of the South that the Constitution was formed by the states, with states having the right to secede if, in their judgment, the terms of the original compact had been violated. Second, it restricted popular sovereignty and called for government by an elite who were deemed fit to rule over the masses.” (12/12/25)
https://mises.org/friday-philosophy/our-secret-constitution
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48) How To Spot Rich And Poor Countries
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“For most of modern history, the perception of whether a country is ‘rich’ or ‘poor’ has centered on the wealth of its citizens. We look at median incomes and GDP per capita to divide the world into prosperous nations — usually Western democracies with median household incomes above $30,000 — and poorer ones in the developing world, where typical earnings are a fraction of that. This citizen-level view of wealth makes intuitive sense, because income dictates living standards. But there’s another, increasingly-important way of understanding national wealth: by examining the financial health of the state itself.” (12/12/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/12/how-to-spot-rich-and-poor-countries/
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49) Trump Administration Ramps Up Its War On Coal Miners
Source: In These Times
by Kim Kelly
“Millions of Americans gathered around their kitchen tables to visit with friends and family and indulge in favorite recipes late last month. Those who could luxuriate in a long holiday weekend did just that, but not everyone got to enjoy it; about a third of the American workforce still had to get up and go to work as usual on Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, that included at least a few members of the Trump administration’s Labor Department, who spent their holiday dealing yet another crippling blow to the nation’s beleaguered coal miners. On November 26th, the Department of Labor and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association filed a status update in an ongoing lawsuit over a long-awaited workplace safety regulation. Taken out of context, this may not sound all that exciting, but it’s actually quite devastating.” (12/11/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-trump-administration-has-found-a-sneaky-way-to-keep-killing-coal-miners
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50) Capitalism’s Communism?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“The problem is communism — in finance. That’s the world according to Robert Kiyosaki, says an Epoch Times profile. ‘Kiyosaki described the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank — established in 1913 with a goal of stabilizing the nation’s monetary supply following years of extreme volatility, and preventing panic — as a Marxist organization,’ Travis Gillmore writes. ‘When the Fed came to America, it was the end of America,’ states Kiyosaki, who co-authored a bestselling investment book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, in 1997, ‘and our freedom is being stolen via our money.'” (12/12/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/12/12/capitalisms-communism/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 321
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Venezuela is about to get photo bombed.” (12/13/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-321-venezuela-is-about-to
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52) Pink Flame of Liberty, 12/13/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Owen Morgan’s Abortion Argument … and the logical conclusion.” (12/13/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43whgrrjjFY
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53) The Reconstruction Agenda with Andy Craig, 12/13/25
Source: The UnPopulist
“What Tools Does Congress Still Retain to Control a Recalcitrant Executive? A Conversation with Josh Chafetz.” (12/13/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/what-tools-does-congress-still-retain
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54) Free Talk Live, 12/12/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Chalk wars in Keene, NH in 2011 :: Typical tragedy of the commons story :: AI threats :: Man jailed for decorating sewer covers, creating whimsy :: Sarah’s mayor candidate won :: Iowa is a police state :: Freedom in the fifty states :: Arkansas dumps PBS, Alabama keeps it despite hemorrhaging money :: US gov UFO study may have studied how to mentally harm people with delusions about UFOs and Skinwalkers :: Minnesota Somalian scam on welfare :: People claiming autism for fraud of the welfare system :: 2025-12-13 Hosts: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (12/12/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-12-13
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55) The Good Fight, 12/13/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“The Good Fight Club: Can Europe Control Its Fate?” (12/13/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-good-fight-club-13
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56) The Dispatch Podcast, 12/12/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Horseshoe Theory in Minnesota | Roundtable.” (12/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/horseshoe-theory-in-minnesota-roundtable/
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57) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 12/12/25
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Why Missouri Needs Early Literacy Reform with Cory Koedel and Avery Frank.” (12/12/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/why-missouri-needs-early-literacy-reform-with-cory-koedel-and-avery-frank/
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58) The Intercept Briefing, 12/12/12
Source: The Intercept
“Trump Has Appointed Himself Judge, Jury, and Executioner.” (12/12/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/12/venezuela-boat-strikes-video-press-coverage/
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59) The Business List, 12/12/25
Source: LP Alliance
“Your source for stories inside the [Libertarian Party], across the country, and around the world!” (12/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Ul5owr02E
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60) Galaxy Brain, 12/12/25
Source: The Atlantic
“How YouTube Ate Podcasts and TV.” (12/12/25)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2025/12/how-youtube-ate-podcasts-and-tv-with-rachel-martin-ashley-carmen-and-derek-thompson/685230/
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61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/12/25
Source: Freedom Works
“Steve Swedberg, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Fed’s Risky Interest Rate Cut.'” (12/12/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-12-13_zfw12122025.mp3
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62) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/12/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages at Cratering Polls as GOP Losses Reveal Surprise Weakness.” (12/12/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/204337/trump-rages-cratering-polls-gop-losses-reveal-surprise-weakness
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63) PoliTicks, 12/12/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Institutional Failure Everywhere: College Football Scandal, European Leverage and Covid.” (12/12/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/institutional-failure-everywhere-college-football-scandal-european-leverage-covid
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64) Bulwark Takes, 12/12/25
Source: The Bulwark
“The State Department Abandons ‘Woke’ Calibri for Times New Roman.” (12/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKAQM1wnNYc
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65) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/12/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Unemployment Crisis 2025: Philip Patrick’s Warning Signs to Watch.” (12/12/25)
https://rumble.com/v72xnro-unemployment-crisis-2025-philip-patricks-warning-signs-to-watch.html
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