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05/07 -- Indian regime launches strikes against Pakistan; Liberals Need to Talk About Virtue and the Good Life
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Thomas L. Knapp
May 7, 2025, 6:23:52 AMMay 7
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 05/07/25
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https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Indian regime launches strikes against Pakistan
2) Vatican: Cardinals meet for first vote on new pope
3) Yemen: Israeli strike hits Sanaa airport
4) Canada “is not for sale,” Carney tells Trump in White House meeting
5) UK: Indian Regime Seeks to Block Auction of Buddhist Religious Relics
6) Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested After Occupying University of Washington Building
7) Rite Aid files for bankruptcy for second time in 18 months
8) Trump says US will end Yemen bombings
9) Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills seven regime troops
10) Soviet spacecraft plunging back to Earth 53 years after it was launched
11) Trump trade tariffs slump widens to “nearly all US exports,” supply chain data shows
12) Serbia: Protesting students demand snap election
13) As Trump battles elite colleges, House GOP looks to hike endowment tax by tenfold or more
14) US DOJ pushes for Google to sell its advertising platforms
15) TN: Lee vetoes easier denial of parole bill, his first since taking office
16) Germany: Merz overcomes historic defeat to become chancellor
17) UK and India agree on trade deal after three years of talks
18) OpenAI Drops For-Profit Move
19) National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years
20) Trump to continue Biden’s court defense of abortion drug mifepristone
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Liberals Need to Talk About Virtue and the Good Life
22) They Could Have Overruled the Empire as Father and Son
23) Are you sure you want government to “Make America Healthy Again?”
24) It Could Never Happen Here
25) Price Controls for Medicine Have a Devastating Cost
26) Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity
27) Addressing Cultural Fears Could Renew Public Support for Immigration
28) Dave Portnoy Just Blew Up Over an Antisemitic Stunt — Then Did Something Truly Remarkable
29) Eight Topics to Topple Trump: Sports Can Distract Us (But Not Enough)
30) Inflation and the Demand for Money: The Confederacy in the Civil War
31) What did my family ever do to Donald Trump?
32) Understanding The Importance of Justice
33) Greenland Will Never Be for Sale
34) Quantum Vibe, 05/06/25
35) Why It’s So Hard To Find Small Press Books
36) Is it legal to enforce the law?
37) Tariff Tension: Will US Shelves Be Empty By Late May?
38) Will We See Mushroom Clouds Over Kashmir?
39) Lobby Horse: Trump’s “trillion dollar” visit to Saudi Arabia
40) Did Trump Do Europe a Favor?
41) Liberalism vs. Scienctism
42) Don’t Blockade the Blockbuster
43) Iran, Vietnam, and Trump’s Chance for Peace
44) Famous name aside, Alcatraz would make a terrible deportation jail
45) “REAL ID” is coming for you
46) Trump is warning about shortages. Will kids have toys this Christmas?
47) No Deal for Gun Control: North Carolina and the “Wicked Rebellion” Against the British
48) “Free” Transit Is Anything But
49) The Latest Plot To Privatize Public Lands
50) Trump administration’s hostility to due process is un-American
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 05/06/25
52) (Re)Imagining Liberty, 05/06/25
53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 06/06/25
54) Capital Record, episode 233
55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/06/25
56) Advisory Opinions, 05/06/25
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/25
58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/05/25
59) System Update, episode 449
60) Finding Freedom, 05/05/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Indian regime launches strikes against Pakistan
Source: USA Today
“India attacked Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday and Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies. The Indian hits on targets in Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab were the first since their last full-scale war more than half a century ago, triggering fears of a further escalation of military hostilities. India said it struck nine Pakistani ‘terrorist infrastructure’ sites, some of them linked to an attack by Islamist militants on Hindu tourists that killed 26 people in Indian Kashmir last month. … Pakistan said Indian missiles hit three sites and a military spokesperson told Reuters five Indian aircraft had been shot down, a claim not confirmed by India.” (05/07/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/05/06/india-attacks-pakistan-pakistani-kashmir/83483142007/
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2) Vatican: Cardinals meet for first vote on new pope
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The Catholic church’s College of Cardinals has gathered at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, and will begin the process of electing a new pontiff to replace Pope Francis on Wednesday. Francis, the church’s 266th pontiff, died on Easter Monday (April 21), after leading the church for 12 years. Voting during the so-called papal conclave takes place in the Sistine Chapel and is conducted by secret ballot. On Wednesday, 133 cardinals will begin the process with the traditional Holy Mass for the Election of the Pope (Pro Eligendo Romano Pontefice) at 10:00 am local time in St.Peter’s Basilica. …The first ballots will be cast on Wednesday evening and, barring the the unlikely event that the conclave produces a winner on the first ballot, voting will continue four times each day until a new leader has been found.” (05/07/25)
https://www.dw.com/en/conclave-updates-cardinals-meet-for-first-vote-on-new-pope/live-72450604
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3) Yemen: Israeli strike hits Sanaa airport
Source: Al Jazeera {Qatari state media]
“Israel has hit the main international airport of Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa, ‘fully disabling’ the civilian facility, according to the Israeli army. Tuesday’s attacks that also targeted a concrete factory and several power stations in and around Sanaa came in response to Sunday’s ballistic missile strike near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israeli military statement said.” (05/06/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/6/israeli-strikes-rock-yemens-sanaa-including-international-airport
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4) Canada “is not for sale,” Carney tells Trump in White House meeting
Source: Axios
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Trump on Tuesday that Canada ‘is not for sale,’ nor will it be. Trump has repeatedly threatened Canadian sovereignty, but Carney’s Liberal Party staged a political comeback by rallying against Trump’s annexation threats. ‘Never say never,’ Trump responded, to which Carney repeatedly said: ‘Never.'” (05/06/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/trump-carney-oval-office-canada-51-state-sale
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5) UK: Indian Regime Seeks to Block Auction of Buddhist Religious Relics
Source: New York Times
“The jewels are delicate, some just millimeters in length, arranged in intricate patterns of circles and lines. Taken from British-occupied India in 1898, the jewels were discovered alongside bone and ash, said to be the remains of Buddha. The collection is perhaps one of the holiest relics in contemporary religion. Now, it is up for sale, igniting a legal battle between the government of India and Sotheby’s, the international auction house set to sell the religious treasures in an auction. The artifacts are being sold on behalf of the English descendants of the explorer who dug them up more than 120 years ago. On Monday, the Indian Ministry of Culture issued a legal order, saying the relics should be returned to India for ‘preservation and religious veneration.'” (05/06/25)
https://archive.is/OosVF
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6) Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested After Occupying University of Washington Building
Source: US News & World Report
“olice arrested about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied a University of Washington engineering building and demanded the school break ties with Boeing. Students from the group Super UW moved into the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in Seattle on Monday evening and unofficially renamed it after Shaban al-Dalou, a teenage engineering student who was killed along with his mother after an Israeli airstrike caused an inferno outside of a Gaza hospital. The students demanded that the university sever all ties with Boeing, including returning any Boeing donations and barring the company’s employees from teaching at or otherwise influencing the school. Boeing has a factory in nearby Renton that makes commercial and military aircraft, according to its website.” (05/06/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2025-05-06/pro-palestinian-protesters-arrested-after-occupying-university-of-washington-building
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7) Rite Aid files for bankruptcy for second time in 18 months
Source: United Press International
“Rite Aid on Monday announced it is filing for bankruptcy and looking for a new buyer, just seven months after exiting Chapter 11. Eighteen months ago, Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 because it couldn’t compete against bigger chains and paid millions for filling unlawful opioid prescriptions. The company plans to keep open its 1,350 stores in 15 states with 4,000 employees.” (05/06/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/05/05/Rite-Aid-bankruptcy-again/2311746482815/
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8) Trump says US will end Yemen bombings
Source: Washington Post
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will stop striking the Houthis in Yemen after he said the Iranian-backed rebel group expressed that they ‘don’t want to fight anymore.’ ‘We will honor that, and we will stop the bombings,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. ‘They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their own word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s what the purpose of what we were doing.’ Trump denied that he had made a ‘deal’ with the Houthis and largely declined to provide further details about the decision, saying he had just learned about it. He said the arrangement was ‘effectively immediately.'” (05/06/25)
https://archive.is/yO84Q
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9) Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills seven regime troops
Source: ABC News
“A powerful roadside bomb struck a security vehicle in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing seven soldiers, the military said, in a sign of increasing violence in the region. The attack occurred in the Kachhi district of Balochistan province, the military said in a statement. It blamed the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army for the bombing, describing the group as a proxy of India without backing up the claim with any evidence.” (05/06/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bomb-targeting-security-vehicle-kills-7-soldiers-121516738
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10) Soviet spacecraft plunging back to Earth 53 years after it was launched
Source: CBS News
“Just weeks ago, scientists warned that a ‘city killer’ asteroid had a small chance of hitting Earth. While that prediction was thankfully revised, the planet may have to worry about another object plummeting down from the heavens — a 1970s spacecraft called Kosmos 482. The Soviet-era spacecraft meant to land on Venus a half century ago is expected to soon plunge uncontrolled back to Earth. It’s too early to know where the half-ton mass of metal might come down or how much of it will survive reentry, according to space debris-tracking experts.” (05/06/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacecraft-kosmos-482-plunging-back-earth-what-to-know/
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11) Trump trade tariffs slump widens to “nearly all US exports,” supply chain data shows
Source: CNBC
“What began as a rapid drop in U.S. imports as shippers cut orders from manufacturing partners around the world has now extended into a nationwide export slump, with the U.S. agricultural sector and top farm products including soybeans, corn and beef taking the hardest hit. The latest trade data shows that a slide in U.S. exports to the world, and China in particular, that began in January now extends to most U.S. ports, according to trade tracker Vizion, which analyzed U.S. export container bookings for the five-week period before the tariffs began and the five weeks after the tariffs took effect.” (05/06/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/trump-tariffs-hit-us-exports-import-covid-level-event.html
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12) Serbia: Protesting students demand snap election
Source: ABC News
“Serbia’s protesting university students are demanding a snap election after months of anti-corruption demonstrations that have shaken populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s tight grip on power in the Balkan country. A statement posted to a joint social media account late Monday said that an early vote is the only way out of a deep political crisis in Serbia triggered by a train station disaster that killed 16 people on Nov. 1, which was widely blamed on government corruption. … A snap election would entail dissolving of the populist-dominated parliament and scheduling the early vote. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party leader and former Prime Minister Milos Vucevic has rejected the idea, saying it would spell a ‘disaster’ for the country.” (05/06/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/serbias-protesting-students-demand-snap-election-121506925
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13) As Trump battles elite colleges, House GOP looks to hike endowment tax by tenfold or more
Source: SFGate
“President Donald Trump’s feud with America’s elite universities is lending momentum to Republicans on Capitol Hill who want to increase a tax on wealthy college endowments by tenfold or more. House Republicans already were considering a hike in the tax on college endowments’ earnings from 1.4% to 14% as part of Trump’s tax bill. As the president raises the stakes in his fight with Harvard, Columbia and other Ivy League schools, lawmakers are floating raising the rate as high as 21% in line with the corporate tax rate. It appears no decisions have been made. In a letter blocking Harvard from new funding on Monday, the Trump administration drew attention to the school’s ‘largely tax-free’ $53 billion endowment, noting it’s bigger than some nations’ economies. Trump previously said he wants to see Harvard stripped of its tax-exempt status as he presses for reforms at colleges he accuses of ‘indoctrinating’ students with ‘radical left’ ideas.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/as-trump-battles-elite-colleges-house-gop-looks-20313151.php
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14) US DOJ pushes for Google to sell its advertising platforms
Source: Engadget
“In April, a US District Court ruled that Google monopolized open-web digital ad markets. Now, the tech giant and the US Justice Department are at odds about what Google must do about it. The DOJ argues that Google should sell AdX, or Ad Exchange, a platform for publishers to sell unused ad space in real-time. It also wants the company to offload Google Ad Manager, previously DoubleClick for Publishers (Google DFP). The DOJ claims that both platforms minimize competition and contribute to Google’s monopoly in the advertising space. The executive department has also pushed Google to sell Chrome due to a separate ruling that the company held a monopoly on search engines. Unsurprisingly, Google has no interest in getting rid of its products — it also plans to appeal the Court’s ruling on Google Ad Manager.” (05/06/25)
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/doj-pushes-for-google-to-sell-its-advertising-platforms-134250436.html
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15) TN: Lee vetoes easier denial of parole bill, his first since taking office
Source: SFGate
“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has vetoed his first bill since taking office in 2019, nixing a measure that would make it easier for a state board to deny parole. The Republican’s veto Monday eliminates the bill, though the GOP-supermajority Tennessee Legislature can override a veto with the same number of votes that were required to originally pass the bill. In his veto letter, Lee wrote that the legislation unwinds a key component of a 2021 law aimed at reducing recidivism named the Reentry Success Act. He said removing that provision would be a ‘step backwards from safer Tennessee communities.’ That older bill, which Lee pushed for, only received one ‘no’ vote ‘because we all know we cannot tackle crime without tackling recidivism,’ he wrote. ‘I am confident that the Board of Parole and other safeguards ensure parole is awarded appropriately,’ Lee wrote.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/tennessee-s-governor-vetoes-easier-denial-of-20313072.php
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16) Germany: Merz overcomes historic defeat to become chancellor
Source: SFGate
“Conservative leader Friedrich Merz succeeded Tuesday in becoming Germany’s next chancellor, drawing applause and a palpable sense of relief in the parliament chamber after a historic loss in the first round of voting threatened the new government’s promises of stability. No other postwar candidate for German chancellor has failed to win on the first ballot. The stunning but short-lived defeat sent shock waves throughout Europe and dragged down the stock market. The DAX, the index of major German companies, fell by 1.8% at one point. The first round of voting, which was conducted by secret ballot, could affect Merz’s prospects for success and bring trouble to his coalition’s agenda, which includes reviving a stagnant economy and dealing with the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/german-lawmakers-vote-whether-to-approve-mertz-as-20312139.php
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17) UK and India agree on trade deal after three years of talks
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The UK and India have agreed a trade deal that will make it easier for UK firms to export whisky, cars and other products to India, and cut taxes on India’s clothing and footwear exports. The British government said the ‘landmark’ agreement, which took three years to reach, did not include any change in immigration policy, including towards Indian students studying in the UK. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the deal would boost the economy and ‘deliver for British people and business’. Last year, trade between the UK and India totalled £42.6bn and was already forecast to grow, but the government said the deal would boost that trade by an additional £25.5bn a year by 2040.” (05/06/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y6y90e5vzo
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18) OpenAI Drops For-Profit Move
Source: Barron’s
“OpenAI has abandoned a plan to put its artificial-intelligence business under the control of a for-profit entity. The ChatGPT maker looks to have been forced to water down its plans by authorities, but it will create a headache for its relationship with major backer Microsoft. OpenAI is currently structured as a nonprofit company with a board that oversees its for-profit business. The company had intended to become a more conventional profit-seeking company, although retaining some public-benefit and nonprofit objectives. However, OpenAI said late Monday it scrapped the for-profit conversion plan after discussions with civic leaders and the attorneys general of California and Delaware, who would be required to sign off on it.” (05/06/25)
https://www.barrons.com/articles/microsoft-stock-price-openai-chatgpt-profit-6e417661
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19) National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years
Source: SFGate
“A longstanding program connecting young adults from diverse backgrounds with summer jobs in the National Park Service was canceled indefinitely earlier this spring. The National Park Service Academy was a partnership between the National Park Service and the American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit organization providing environmental service opportunities for young adults and ’emerging professionals’. This summer would’ve been the program’s 15th year, according to a job posting for the now-defunct cohort. ‘Are you passionate about working outdoors but don’t know where to start?’ the job posting reads. ‘Do you come from a marginalized background?’ According to a comparison of the park service workforce to the U.S. population, Hispanic, Black, Asian and multiracial people are underrepresented in the agency. Nearly 80% of the park’s superintendents are white, and more than 84% of the rangers are white, according to data obtained by E&E News in 2020.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/national-park-academy-canceled-20307206.php
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20) Trump to continue Biden’s court defense of abortion drug mifepristone
Source: Reuters
“President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday pushed forward in defending U.S. rules easing access to the abortion drug mifepristone from a legal challenge that began during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. The U.S. Department of Justice in a brief filed in Texas federal court urged a judge to dismiss the lawsuit by three Republican-led states on procedural grounds. While the filing does not discuss the merits of the states’ case, it suggests the Trump administration is in no rush to drop the government’s defense of mifepristone, used in more than 60% of U.S. abortions. Missouri, Kansas and Idaho claim the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acted improperly when it eased restrictions on mifepristone, including by allowing it to be prescribed by telemedicine and dispensed by mail.” (05/05/25)
https://archive.is/pfAWg
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Liberals Need to Talk About Virtue and the Good Life
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell
“Liberals should stop pretending liberalism is value-free, and instead argue that liberal values are better than the alternatives.” (05/06/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/liberals-need-to-talk-about-virtue-and-the-good-life
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22) They Could Have Overruled the Empire as Father and Son
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg
“Warren Buffett’s father should have changed Radical Son David Horowitz’s red diapers. At first glance, Horowitz’s vehement rejection of his card-carrying Communist Party upbringing to become an equally unwavering Grand Old Party loyalist, from voting for Ronald Reagan’s re-election right up until his passing on April 29, would seem the mirror opposite of the path to Buffett’s retirement a week later.” (05/06/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19538
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23) Are you sure you want government to “Make America Healthy Again?”
Source: The Hill
by Merrill Matthews
“If the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ slogan were being promoted by a conventional secretary running the Department of Health and Human Services, one might consider it an aspirational effort to encourage Americans to live healthier lifestyles. But Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is anything but a conventional choice. Having spent years living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle before changing his ways, he now wants to use the government to ‘make’ the rest of us healthy.” (05/06/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/5283988-kennedy-targeting-obesity/
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24) It Could Never Happen Here
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Many Americans remain convinced that tyranny and oppression could never happen here in the United States. We are different from other countries, they say. We are more enlightened. We are exceptional. The United States will always be a free country, no matter what. Of course, there is always a problem with the meaning of the word ‘freedom.’ It means different things to different people. For example, today’s Americans feel free because they live under a welfare state, a national-security state, a foreign military empire, a government-managed economy, a paper-money system directed by a central bank, an income tax, a drug war, and an immigration police state. Yet, our American ancestors prior to 1910 rejected all those things and lived in a society that had none of them.” (05/06/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/05/06/it-could-never-happen-here/
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25) Price Controls for Medicine Have a Devastating Cost
Source: Town Hall
by Victor Riches
“When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, it promised to lower healthcare costs, particularly for Medicare beneficiaries. Central to this effort were two key provisions: Medicare’s Drug Price Negotiation Program and new price caps on selected drugs. That promise, however, may carry unintended costs for patients. Multiple studies since the law’s passage have suggested that those relying on the development of gene therapies or repurposed drugs could face reduced pharmaceutical innovation as a result of the heavy hand of government price setting. The IRA’s Drug Price Negotiation Program will likely trigger two troubling trends, the first being reduced investment in the development of new drugs …. Second, it will weaken incentives to finance research into the repurposing of existing drugs, which has historically yielded efficient, cost-effective breakthroughs—precisely because much of the underlying pharmacological data is already established.” (05/06/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/goldwaterinstitute/2025/05/06/price-controls-for-medicine-have-a-devastating-cost-n2656582
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26) Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Ukraine made military history last week: One of its newest drones shot down a very expensive Russian fighter jet. Yet just as historic was who won credit for this feat. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first congratulated the military. But then he thanked ‘everyone developing and deploying new technological solutions’. By ‘everyone’ he meant thousands of people, even those tinkering with drones in their garage. The Russian invasion has ignited a burst of ingenious engineering in Ukraine and spawned hundreds of startups competing to push the boundaries of drone warfare week by week. Each milestone in drones on the battlefield has slowed Russia’s capabilities. It has also inspired Europe and the United States to boost their defense innovation.” (05/05/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0505/Origins-of-Ukraine-s-drone-creativity
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27) Addressing Cultural Fears Could Renew Public Support for Immigration
Source: The UnPopulist
by Morris Levy & Matthew Wright
“Western democracies are facing intensified global economic competition, even as their populations are aging into retirement. Both dynamics are relentless. To supply labor, spur innovation, and shore up social safety nets, Western societies need immigration now more than ever. Yet in this moment of need, politics is trumping policy. Mainstream leaders who once supported immigration as a boon to their nations’ economic and cultural life are in full-scale retreat.” (05/06/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/addressing-cultural-fears-could-renew
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28) Dave Portnoy Just Blew Up Over an Antisemitic Stunt — Then Did Something Truly Remarkable
Source: Chasing Liberty
by Jeff Charles
“Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy just gave a masterclass on how to deal with bigotry — but he’s getting criticized for it. Portnoy posted a video on Sunday in which he informed his audience that some people had ordered a sign that read, ‘Fuck the Jews’ and displayed it at one of his bars in Philadelphia. Footage showing young college students filming themselves near the sign circulated on social media. Portnoy was visibly angry as he threatened to find out who ordered and displayed the sign and expose them to the world. The video garnered a flood of reactions, with people condemning the actions of these individuals. However, in a follow-up video, Portnoy indicated he’d had a change of heart.” (05/06/25)
https://www.libertychasers.com/p/dave-portnoy-just-blew-up-over-an
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29) Eight Topics to Topple Trump: Sports Can Distract Us (But Not Enough)
Source: TomDispatch
by Robert Lipsyte
“If the overwhelming deluge from the Trumpian firehose of lies, threats, incompetency, illegal actions, and surreality is sweeping you off your feet, driving you to bedridden depression, leaving you passive and breathlessly unable to mount a response, much less resistance, please get into the huddle, take a time-out, and listen up to your Jock Culture coach. (That’s me, of course!) You need some distraction. Have you noticed lately how few sports stories are making their way to the top of the news beams? That’s because sports — once upon a time our most reliable source of outrage, speculation, cultish behavior, and lessons in domination, smackdown intimidation, and faux masculinity — has been replaced by a remarkable series of presidential half-time horror shows. It’s now all Trumpiana all the time. We need to get back to sports.” (05/06/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/sports-can-distract-us-but-not-enough/
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30) Inflation and the Demand for Money: The Confederacy in the Civil War
Source: EconLog
by John Phelan
“When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the Confederacy, like any government in any situation, had three sources of money: taxing, borrowing, or printing.” (05/06/25)
https://www.econlib.org/inflation-and-the-demand-for-money-the-confederacy-in-the-civil-war/
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31) What did my family ever do to Donald Trump?
Source: USA Today
by Richard Wolf
“President Donald Trump’s determination to get back at his perceived enemies has somehow incorporated my entire family. What did we ever do to him? I’m a journalist. My wife is a recreation therapist. My daughter is a lawyer. Sisters: social worker, psychologist. Brothers-in-law: psychiatrist, psychologist. Nieces, nephews: mostly educators. And my son is autistic, though he, too, works and pays taxes. That we – through our chosen professions – have made the president’s ‘enemies list’ is indicative of why a majority of Americans say he’s gone too far.” (05/06/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2025/05/06/trump-targets-schools-science-federal-funding/83378205007/
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32) Understanding The Importance of Justice
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“To many economists, questions of justice are not relevant to the study of free markets. In most situations where people try to invoke arguments about ‘justice,’ they are concerned with distributive justice. Their aim is to address questions of wealth distribution and income inequality. They argue that ‘social justice’ requires the state to redistribute wealth. In this context, Friedrich A. Hayek depicted ‘social justice’ as a meaningless slogan — a mantra wielded by political activists to avoid having to give reasons or justifications for their policies.” (05/06/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/understanding-importance-justice
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33) Greenland Will Never Be for Sale
Source: Common Dreams
by Dud Hendrick
“U.S. President Donald Trump, casting a covetous eye on Greenland, has my attention. I have a history in that place, so little known to Americans in general, having spent the entire year of 1964 at Thule Air Force Base, now Pitufik Space Station, 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The road I’ve traveled since has me deeply concerned about Trump in every respect—believing that everything he represents and wants is contrary to the best interests of our country, the world, and mankind altogether, excepting perhaps oligarchs. At Thule I was responsible for overseeing the maintenance of our air-to-air missiles and for supervising the loading of those missiles on board our F-102 fighter jets in the event of declared hostilities with our great ‘bugaboo’, the Soviet Union.” (05/06/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/greenland-is-not-for-sale
-----
34) Quantum Vibe, 05/06/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (05/06/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2534
-----
35) Why It’s So Hard To Find Small Press Books
Source: Persuasion
by Melanie Jennings & Elizabeth Kaye Cook
“In December, we wrote an essay about how small presses still fight the good fight for risky literary fiction, even as the conglomerated Big Five publishers abandon it. In a time when companies like Meta steal books to build generative AI, then claim that individual books ‘are no different from noise’ in terms of their contribution to AI, defending wild fiction matters more than ever. Many readers reached out to us: after too-often plunking down $30 for a well-reviewed but ultimately disappointing new release, they were clamoring for better options. If small and independent presses offered fresher, more challenging books, how could they find and read them? It’s a more difficult question to answer than you might expect.” (05/06/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-its-so-hard-to-find-small-press
-----
36) Is it legal to enforce the law?
Source: The Pamphleteer
by Davis Hunt
“ICE hit the town early Sunday morning, making over 150 traffic stops and detaining anywhere from 20 to 100 persons deemed illegally [sic] present in the country. The details are scant at the moment, but an official statement from the Tennessee Highway Patrol on the operation revealed that state law enforcement coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on ‘a public safety operation in Davidson County’ focusing in particular on ‘areas with a history of serious traffic crashes and suspected gang activity.’ As you might expect, there has been a big response from local elected officials.” [editor’s note: The “law” — in this case the US Constitution — says that there’s no such thing as being “illegally present” in the United States – TLK] (05/06/25)
https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/is-it-legal-to-enforce-the-law/
-----
37) Tariff Tension: Will US Shelves Be Empty By Late May?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Trump’s trade war has disrupted shipments, supply chains, and consumer confidence. Shortages and job losses are sure to follow.” (05/06/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/tariff-tension-will-us-shelves-be-empty-by-late-may/
-----
38) Will We See Mushroom Clouds Over Kashmir?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Eric Margolis
“One of the world’s, oldest and most dangerous conflicts went critical this past week as nuclear armed India and Pakistan traded threats of war. The Kashmir conflict is the oldest one before the UN. In my book `War at the Top of the World’ I warned that the confrontation over Kashmir, the beautiful mountain state claimed by both Islamabad and Delhi, could unleash a nuclear war that could kill millions and pollute the planet. After three wars and many clashes, it seemed the two bad neighbors had allowed the Kashmir dispute to fade into the background as their relations slightly improved. Then came the murder last week of 26 Indian tourists at Pahalgam, a Kashmir beauty spot, by Muslim insurgents.” (05/06/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/eric_margolis/2025/05/05/will-we-see-mushroom-clouds-over-kashmir/
-----
39) Lobby Horse: Trump’s “trillion dollar” visit to Saudi Arabia
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ben Freeman
“Next week President Trump will take his first international state trip as president and, just as in his first term, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be his first stop. Trump hasn’t minced words about why he’s heading there: money. ‘I said I’ll go if you pay $1 trillion to American companies — meaning the purchase over a four-year period of $1 trillion — and they’ve agreed to do that,’ Trump told reporters on March 7 …. there’s reason to be skeptical of the amount given Trump’s penchant for exaggeration and the fact that $1 trillion is more than the value of the entire Saudi sovereign wealth fund. While it’s unclear how much money is actually at stake and who will get it, there’s one person that is certain to cash in on Saudi Arabia’s financial largesse: Donald Trump.” (05/06/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-saudi-arabia/
-----
40) Did Trump Do Europe a Favor?
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Fifty years ago this week, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies. In clumsily attempting to declare a new official holiday, ‘Victory Day,’ President Trump got his history wrong, forgetting that World War II continued until Japan surrendered on September 2. The German surrender of May 7, 1945, began an 80-year period in which the United States was the global hegemonic power with Europe as junior partner. Trump has now brought that partnership to an abrupt end. At its best, the Atlantic Alliance was the centerpiece of a rules-based global system that prized democracy and the rule of law. At its worst, the system was a vehicle for American overreach that sometimes gave priority to corporate interests at the expense of democracy.” (05/06/25)
https://prospect.org/world/2025-05-06-did-trump-do-europe-a-favor/
-----
41) Liberalism vs. Scienctism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mary Carmen Mead
“The Covid-19 pandemic was a disaster. We can all agree on that. But are we willing to ask and figure out why? The fact that ‘there have been so few academic conferences and university symposia’ devoted to Covid-19 suggests the answer is no. This is ‘astonishing,’ Stephen Macedo and Francis Lee point out in their new book, In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us. Yet ‘the profound impact of Covid and the policies and emergency measures deployed to combat it’ would seem to warrant retrospective analysis, if not rigorous debate.” (05/06/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/liberalism-vs-scienctism/
-----
42) Don’t Blockade the Blockbuster
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Diogo Costa
“Once upon a time, America won the world’s imagination by telling stories that were human, bold, and universal. Now, President Trump’s talk about a 100% tariff on foreign-made movies risks replacing creativity with protectionism, and cultural influence with retreat. Trump’s Truth Social post claims the US film industry is ‘dying a very fast death’ due to foreign incentives and labels international films a ‘national security threat.’ However, the real danger here is economic confusion and cultural stagnation.” (05/06/25)
https://fee.org/articles/dont-blockade-the-blockbuster/
-----
43) Iran, Vietnam, and Trump’s Chance for Peace
Source: The American Conservative
by David Gornoski
“President Donald Trump, now past his first 100 days in his second term, has vowed to keep America out of endless wars. His bold push for a ‘great trade deal’ with Iran is a chance to make good on that promise. But the war hawks in Washington and elsewhere are peddling a poison pill: Any deal, they insist, must include the total destruction of Iran’s civilian nuclear program, not just a commitment to forgo nuclear weapons. Iran has called this a non-starter. History offers a better path. Vietnam, once America’s Cold War boogeyman, shows how trade, travel, and dialogue can turn enemies into partners. Trump should seize this moment, ignore the neocons, and strike a deal that brings prosperity and peace.” (05/06/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/iran-vietnam-and-trumps-chance-for-peace/
-----
44) Famous name aside, Alcatraz would make a terrible deportation jail
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“‘The name of Napoleon,’ said the French emperor Napoleon III, ‘is a program in itself.’ The same is true of Alcatraz, or as President Trump put it in a Truth Social post announcing his intention to re-open the prison in San Francisco Bay, ‘ALCATRAZ.’ In his post, Trump declared, ‘We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job,’ and re-building Alcatraz ‘will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.’ Trump is given to exemplary displays of strength and toughness, so it’s no wonder that he’s drawn to America’s most theatrically forbidding penitentiary, with three major motion pictures and counting devoted to it. Say what you will about Leavenworth, Clint Eastwood has never starred in a movie about trying to escape from it. ” (05/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/05/05/opinion/famous-name-aside-alcatraz-would-make-a-bad-deport-jail/
-----
45) “REAL ID” is coming for you
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“It is my second trip to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles in four days. I admit from the start it is my fault that I had to make two trips. When I traveled two weeks ago, the friendly TSA agents reminded me (repeatedly) that come May 7, I would need to bring my passport as my valid Virginia driver’s license was non-compliant with the REAL ID Act. I was vaguely aware that the push for new ‘REAL’ IDs was back, the requirement to obtain one having been suspended during Covid, but unaware that the deadline loomed. So last Thursday I trekked to my local DMV office, bringing along my current, valid, Virginia driver’s license, my current, valid passport, my Social Security Card and my birth certificate. Surely, I supposed, that would be enough as I’d been assured I could fly with just the passport by the helpful Team TSA.” (05/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-real-id-coming-you
-----
46) Trump is warning about shortages. Will kids have toys this Christmas?
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“Like many of our readers, I’m sure, I’ve been stocking up on various items that are made in China before the price rises. That seems to me a good metaphor for the odd period we’re in: We know what’s coming, but it hasn’t arrived yet. President Donald Trump is preparing us for what it might look like, though, recently warning that ‘maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.’ Is this what the post-‘Liberation Day’ economy will look like come the holidays? And how will Americans react to empty shelves or price hikes for goods they expect to be cheap and plentiful? I spoke with my colleagues Philip Bump and Jim Geraghty about the politics of shortages.” (05/05/25)
https://archive.is/ZZfmZ
-----
47) No Deal for Gun Control: North Carolina and the “Wicked Rebellion” Against the British
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“NO DEAL – That was the response from the Sons of Liberty and other North Carolina patriots in 1776 to a British ‘offer’ – surrender your guns, abandon your allies, give up your right to local self-government – in exchange for a promise of peace. That moment was more than a turning point in history – it offers enduring lessons for confronting centralized power today.” (05/05/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/05/05/no-deal-for-gun-control-north-carolina-and-the-wicked-rebellion-against-the-british/
-----
48) “Free” Transit Is Anything But
Source: Show-Me Institute
by David Stokes
“People don’t appreciate things that are free, for good reason. One of the most famous insults in film history is on point here, when Rodney Dangerfield notices Ted Knight’s ugly golf hat in ‘Caddyshack’ and says, ‘I bet you get a free bowl of soup with that hat.’ The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) didn’t give out free soup to riders when it made all transit free in 2020, but it might as well have. Free transit is great if your goal is to turn buses into mobile homeless shelters. If your goal is to provide quality, safe, affordable transit, then making it free is the last thing you would want to do.” (05/05/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/transportation/free-transit-is-anything-but/
-----
49) The Latest Plot To Privatize Public Lands
Source: In These Times
by Joseph Bullington
“On a recent visit to see old friends in Livingston, Mont., I found myself downtown, drinking the free art-walk wine, spearing the free cocktail weenies and admiring the fine skin of the expensively dressed couples bobbing in and out of the galleries that have proliferated here like some aggressive breed of plant. …. a ramshackle Subaru station wagon with local plates came trundling up Main Street, piled floor to ceiling with belongings. ’Fuck!’ shrieked the driver, as he pounded the steering wheel. ’I fucking hate this!’ The scene struck me as emblematic of life in the modern West, where a class of wealthy newcomers is snuggling into a comfortable, healthy, fulfilling lifestyle and unwealthy locals are left to wage desperate, doomed gambits to afford surging housing costs.” (05/06/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/american-west-public-lands-affordable-housing-gentrification
-----
50) Trump administration’s hostility to due process is un-American
Source: Orange County Register
by Juan Vargas
“As a young adult, I entered the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order, where among other missions, I worked with orphaned children and internally displaced people in El Salvador during their civil war. It was a dangerous time, and people were frequently ‘disappeared.’ I never thought I’d be watching similar scenes play out here in America. In March, President Donald Trump invoked the archaic Alien Enemies Act to disappear over 100 Venezuelan immigrants to a megaprison in El Salvador. … The law has been used just three times: in the War of 1812, World War I, and, infamously, in World War II to imprison Japanese-Americans in internment camps — a shameful chapter in our history. Trump has illegally used this law now to sidestep due process.” (05/05/25)
https://archive.is/FgFnG
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 05/06/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Invading Mexico Again?” (05/06/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CfWyWEuYjo
-----
52) (Re)Imagining Liberty, 05/06/25
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
“Forging an Opposition to Trump.” (05/06/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/forging-an-opposition-to-trump
-----
53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 06/06/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Seethes as Karl Rove’s Harsh On-Air Poll Warning Deflates MAGA.” (05/06/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/194891/trump-seethes-karl-rove-harsh-on-air-poll-warning-deflates-maga
-----
54) Capital Record, episode 233
Source: National Review
“When Engagement Is Enjoyable and Valuable.” (05/06/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/when-engagement-is-enjoyable-and-valuable/
-----
55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/06/25
Source: Law & Liberty
“Border Disorder.” (05/06/25)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/border-disorder/
-----
56) Advisory Opinions, 05/06/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Right-on-Right Violence.” (05/06/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/right-on-right-violence/
-----
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israeli Government OKs Plan To Conquer Gaza, Israel Launches Major Airstrikes on Yemen, and More.” (05/06/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UHdi4RT_28
-----
58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/05/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Post-‘Libertarian’ Christian Nationalism Again.” (05/05/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLKASJTjp34
-----
59) System Update, episode 449
Source: System Update
“NIH Ends Fauci’s Brutal Dog Experiments; MTG and Massie Shut Down Law to Criminalize Israel Boycotts.” (05/05/25)
https://rumble.com/v6t05s9-system-update-show-449.html
-----
60) Finding Freedom, 05/05/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Trump Imposes Tariff on Movies Made in Foreign Lands.” (05/05/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/trump-imposes-tariff-on-movies-mades-in-foreign-lands
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Indian regime launches strikes against Pakistan
2) Vatican: Cardinals meet for first vote on new pope
3) Yemen: Israeli strike hits Sanaa airport
4) Canada “is not for sale,” Carney tells Trump in White House meeting
5) UK: Indian Regime Seeks to Block Auction of Buddhist Religious Relics
6) Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested After Occupying University of Washington Building
7) Rite Aid files for bankruptcy for second time in 18 months
8) Trump says US will end Yemen bombings
9) Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills seven regime troops
10) Soviet spacecraft plunging back to Earth 53 years after it was launched
11) Trump trade tariffs slump widens to “nearly all US exports,” supply chain data shows
12) Serbia: Protesting students demand snap election
13) As Trump battles elite colleges, House GOP looks to hike endowment tax by tenfold or more
14) US DOJ pushes for Google to sell its advertising platforms
15) TN: Lee vetoes easier denial of parole bill, his first since taking office
16) Germany: Merz overcomes historic defeat to become chancellor
17) UK and India agree on trade deal after three years of talks
18) OpenAI Drops For-Profit Move
19) National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years
20) Trump to continue Biden’s court defense of abortion drug mifepristone
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Liberals Need to Talk About Virtue and the Good Life
22) They Could Have Overruled the Empire as Father and Son
23) Are you sure you want government to “Make America Healthy Again?”
24) It Could Never Happen Here
25) Price Controls for Medicine Have a Devastating Cost
26) Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity
27) Addressing Cultural Fears Could Renew Public Support for Immigration
28) Dave Portnoy Just Blew Up Over an Antisemitic Stunt — Then Did Something Truly Remarkable
29) Eight Topics to Topple Trump: Sports Can Distract Us (But Not Enough)
30) Inflation and the Demand for Money: The Confederacy in the Civil War
31) What did my family ever do to Donald Trump?
32) Understanding The Importance of Justice
33) Greenland Will Never Be for Sale
34) Quantum Vibe, 05/06/25
35) Why It’s So Hard To Find Small Press Books
36) Is it legal to enforce the law?
37) Tariff Tension: Will US Shelves Be Empty By Late May?
38) Will We See Mushroom Clouds Over Kashmir?
39) Lobby Horse: Trump’s “trillion dollar” visit to Saudi Arabia
40) Did Trump Do Europe a Favor?
41) Liberalism vs. Scienctism
42) Don’t Blockade the Blockbuster
43) Iran, Vietnam, and Trump’s Chance for Peace
44) Famous name aside, Alcatraz would make a terrible deportation jail
45) “REAL ID” is coming for you
46) Trump is warning about shortages. Will kids have toys this Christmas?
47) No Deal for Gun Control: North Carolina and the “Wicked Rebellion” Against the British
48) “Free” Transit Is Anything But
49) The Latest Plot To Privatize Public Lands
50) Trump administration’s hostility to due process is un-American
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 05/06/25
52) (Re)Imagining Liberty, 05/06/25
53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 06/06/25
54) Capital Record, episode 233
55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/06/25
56) Advisory Opinions, 05/06/25
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/25
58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/05/25
59) System Update, episode 449
60) Finding Freedom, 05/05/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Indian regime launches strikes against Pakistan
Source: USA Today
“India attacked Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday and Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies. The Indian hits on targets in Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab were the first since their last full-scale war more than half a century ago, triggering fears of a further escalation of military hostilities. India said it struck nine Pakistani ‘terrorist infrastructure’ sites, some of them linked to an attack by Islamist militants on Hindu tourists that killed 26 people in Indian Kashmir last month. … Pakistan said Indian missiles hit three sites and a military spokesperson told Reuters five Indian aircraft had been shot down, a claim not confirmed by India.” (05/07/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/05/06/india-attacks-pakistan-pakistani-kashmir/83483142007/
-----
2) Vatican: Cardinals meet for first vote on new pope
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The Catholic church’s College of Cardinals has gathered at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, and will begin the process of electing a new pontiff to replace Pope Francis on Wednesday. Francis, the church’s 266th pontiff, died on Easter Monday (April 21), after leading the church for 12 years. Voting during the so-called papal conclave takes place in the Sistine Chapel and is conducted by secret ballot. On Wednesday, 133 cardinals will begin the process with the traditional Holy Mass for the Election of the Pope (Pro Eligendo Romano Pontefice) at 10:00 am local time in St.Peter’s Basilica. …The first ballots will be cast on Wednesday evening and, barring the the unlikely event that the conclave produces a winner on the first ballot, voting will continue four times each day until a new leader has been found.” (05/07/25)
https://www.dw.com/en/conclave-updates-cardinals-meet-for-first-vote-on-new-pope/live-72450604
-----
3) Yemen: Israeli strike hits Sanaa airport
Source: Al Jazeera {Qatari state media]
“Israel has hit the main international airport of Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa, ‘fully disabling’ the civilian facility, according to the Israeli army. Tuesday’s attacks that also targeted a concrete factory and several power stations in and around Sanaa came in response to Sunday’s ballistic missile strike near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israeli military statement said.” (05/06/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/6/israeli-strikes-rock-yemens-sanaa-including-international-airport
-----
4) Canada “is not for sale,” Carney tells Trump in White House meeting
Source: Axios
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Trump on Tuesday that Canada ‘is not for sale,’ nor will it be. Trump has repeatedly threatened Canadian sovereignty, but Carney’s Liberal Party staged a political comeback by rallying against Trump’s annexation threats. ‘Never say never,’ Trump responded, to which Carney repeatedly said: ‘Never.'” (05/06/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/trump-carney-oval-office-canada-51-state-sale
-----
5) UK: Indian Regime Seeks to Block Auction of Buddhist Religious Relics
Source: New York Times
“The jewels are delicate, some just millimeters in length, arranged in intricate patterns of circles and lines. Taken from British-occupied India in 1898, the jewels were discovered alongside bone and ash, said to be the remains of Buddha. The collection is perhaps one of the holiest relics in contemporary religion. Now, it is up for sale, igniting a legal battle between the government of India and Sotheby’s, the international auction house set to sell the religious treasures in an auction. The artifacts are being sold on behalf of the English descendants of the explorer who dug them up more than 120 years ago. On Monday, the Indian Ministry of Culture issued a legal order, saying the relics should be returned to India for ‘preservation and religious veneration.'” (05/06/25)
https://archive.is/OosVF
-----
6) Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested After Occupying University of Washington Building
Source: US News & World Report
“olice arrested about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied a University of Washington engineering building and demanded the school break ties with Boeing. Students from the group Super UW moved into the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in Seattle on Monday evening and unofficially renamed it after Shaban al-Dalou, a teenage engineering student who was killed along with his mother after an Israeli airstrike caused an inferno outside of a Gaza hospital. The students demanded that the university sever all ties with Boeing, including returning any Boeing donations and barring the company’s employees from teaching at or otherwise influencing the school. Boeing has a factory in nearby Renton that makes commercial and military aircraft, according to its website.” (05/06/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2025-05-06/pro-palestinian-protesters-arrested-after-occupying-university-of-washington-building
-----
7) Rite Aid files for bankruptcy for second time in 18 months
Source: United Press International
“Rite Aid on Monday announced it is filing for bankruptcy and looking for a new buyer, just seven months after exiting Chapter 11. Eighteen months ago, Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 because it couldn’t compete against bigger chains and paid millions for filling unlawful opioid prescriptions. The company plans to keep open its 1,350 stores in 15 states with 4,000 employees.” (05/06/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/05/05/Rite-Aid-bankruptcy-again/2311746482815/
-----
8) Trump says US will end Yemen bombings
Source: Washington Post
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will stop striking the Houthis in Yemen after he said the Iranian-backed rebel group expressed that they ‘don’t want to fight anymore.’ ‘We will honor that, and we will stop the bombings,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. ‘They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their own word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s what the purpose of what we were doing.’ Trump denied that he had made a ‘deal’ with the Houthis and largely declined to provide further details about the decision, saying he had just learned about it. He said the arrangement was ‘effectively immediately.'” (05/06/25)
https://archive.is/yO84Q
-----
9) Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills seven regime troops
Source: ABC News
“A powerful roadside bomb struck a security vehicle in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing seven soldiers, the military said, in a sign of increasing violence in the region. The attack occurred in the Kachhi district of Balochistan province, the military said in a statement. It blamed the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army for the bombing, describing the group as a proxy of India without backing up the claim with any evidence.” (05/06/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bomb-targeting-security-vehicle-kills-7-soldiers-121516738
-----
10) Soviet spacecraft plunging back to Earth 53 years after it was launched
Source: CBS News
“Just weeks ago, scientists warned that a ‘city killer’ asteroid had a small chance of hitting Earth. While that prediction was thankfully revised, the planet may have to worry about another object plummeting down from the heavens — a 1970s spacecraft called Kosmos 482. The Soviet-era spacecraft meant to land on Venus a half century ago is expected to soon plunge uncontrolled back to Earth. It’s too early to know where the half-ton mass of metal might come down or how much of it will survive reentry, according to space debris-tracking experts.” (05/06/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacecraft-kosmos-482-plunging-back-earth-what-to-know/
-----
11) Trump trade tariffs slump widens to “nearly all US exports,” supply chain data shows
Source: CNBC
“What began as a rapid drop in U.S. imports as shippers cut orders from manufacturing partners around the world has now extended into a nationwide export slump, with the U.S. agricultural sector and top farm products including soybeans, corn and beef taking the hardest hit. The latest trade data shows that a slide in U.S. exports to the world, and China in particular, that began in January now extends to most U.S. ports, according to trade tracker Vizion, which analyzed U.S. export container bookings for the five-week period before the tariffs began and the five weeks after the tariffs took effect.” (05/06/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/trump-tariffs-hit-us-exports-import-covid-level-event.html
-----
12) Serbia: Protesting students demand snap election
Source: ABC News
“Serbia’s protesting university students are demanding a snap election after months of anti-corruption demonstrations that have shaken populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s tight grip on power in the Balkan country. A statement posted to a joint social media account late Monday said that an early vote is the only way out of a deep political crisis in Serbia triggered by a train station disaster that killed 16 people on Nov. 1, which was widely blamed on government corruption. … A snap election would entail dissolving of the populist-dominated parliament and scheduling the early vote. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party leader and former Prime Minister Milos Vucevic has rejected the idea, saying it would spell a ‘disaster’ for the country.” (05/06/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/serbias-protesting-students-demand-snap-election-121506925
-----
13) As Trump battles elite colleges, House GOP looks to hike endowment tax by tenfold or more
Source: SFGate
“President Donald Trump’s feud with America’s elite universities is lending momentum to Republicans on Capitol Hill who want to increase a tax on wealthy college endowments by tenfold or more. House Republicans already were considering a hike in the tax on college endowments’ earnings from 1.4% to 14% as part of Trump’s tax bill. As the president raises the stakes in his fight with Harvard, Columbia and other Ivy League schools, lawmakers are floating raising the rate as high as 21% in line with the corporate tax rate. It appears no decisions have been made. In a letter blocking Harvard from new funding on Monday, the Trump administration drew attention to the school’s ‘largely tax-free’ $53 billion endowment, noting it’s bigger than some nations’ economies. Trump previously said he wants to see Harvard stripped of its tax-exempt status as he presses for reforms at colleges he accuses of ‘indoctrinating’ students with ‘radical left’ ideas.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/as-trump-battles-elite-colleges-house-gop-looks-20313151.php
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14) US DOJ pushes for Google to sell its advertising platforms
Source: Engadget
“In April, a US District Court ruled that Google monopolized open-web digital ad markets. Now, the tech giant and the US Justice Department are at odds about what Google must do about it. The DOJ argues that Google should sell AdX, or Ad Exchange, a platform for publishers to sell unused ad space in real-time. It also wants the company to offload Google Ad Manager, previously DoubleClick for Publishers (Google DFP). The DOJ claims that both platforms minimize competition and contribute to Google’s monopoly in the advertising space. The executive department has also pushed Google to sell Chrome due to a separate ruling that the company held a monopoly on search engines. Unsurprisingly, Google has no interest in getting rid of its products — it also plans to appeal the Court’s ruling on Google Ad Manager.” (05/06/25)
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/doj-pushes-for-google-to-sell-its-advertising-platforms-134250436.html
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15) TN: Lee vetoes easier denial of parole bill, his first since taking office
Source: SFGate
“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has vetoed his first bill since taking office in 2019, nixing a measure that would make it easier for a state board to deny parole. The Republican’s veto Monday eliminates the bill, though the GOP-supermajority Tennessee Legislature can override a veto with the same number of votes that were required to originally pass the bill. In his veto letter, Lee wrote that the legislation unwinds a key component of a 2021 law aimed at reducing recidivism named the Reentry Success Act. He said removing that provision would be a ‘step backwards from safer Tennessee communities.’ That older bill, which Lee pushed for, only received one ‘no’ vote ‘because we all know we cannot tackle crime without tackling recidivism,’ he wrote. ‘I am confident that the Board of Parole and other safeguards ensure parole is awarded appropriately,’ Lee wrote.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/tennessee-s-governor-vetoes-easier-denial-of-20313072.php
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16) Germany: Merz overcomes historic defeat to become chancellor
Source: SFGate
“Conservative leader Friedrich Merz succeeded Tuesday in becoming Germany’s next chancellor, drawing applause and a palpable sense of relief in the parliament chamber after a historic loss in the first round of voting threatened the new government’s promises of stability. No other postwar candidate for German chancellor has failed to win on the first ballot. The stunning but short-lived defeat sent shock waves throughout Europe and dragged down the stock market. The DAX, the index of major German companies, fell by 1.8% at one point. The first round of voting, which was conducted by secret ballot, could affect Merz’s prospects for success and bring trouble to his coalition’s agenda, which includes reviving a stagnant economy and dealing with the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/german-lawmakers-vote-whether-to-approve-mertz-as-20312139.php
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17) UK and India agree on trade deal after three years of talks
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The UK and India have agreed a trade deal that will make it easier for UK firms to export whisky, cars and other products to India, and cut taxes on India’s clothing and footwear exports. The British government said the ‘landmark’ agreement, which took three years to reach, did not include any change in immigration policy, including towards Indian students studying in the UK. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the deal would boost the economy and ‘deliver for British people and business’. Last year, trade between the UK and India totalled £42.6bn and was already forecast to grow, but the government said the deal would boost that trade by an additional £25.5bn a year by 2040.” (05/06/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y6y90e5vzo
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18) OpenAI Drops For-Profit Move
Source: Barron’s
“OpenAI has abandoned a plan to put its artificial-intelligence business under the control of a for-profit entity. The ChatGPT maker looks to have been forced to water down its plans by authorities, but it will create a headache for its relationship with major backer Microsoft. OpenAI is currently structured as a nonprofit company with a board that oversees its for-profit business. The company had intended to become a more conventional profit-seeking company, although retaining some public-benefit and nonprofit objectives. However, OpenAI said late Monday it scrapped the for-profit conversion plan after discussions with civic leaders and the attorneys general of California and Delaware, who would be required to sign off on it.” (05/06/25)
https://www.barrons.com/articles/microsoft-stock-price-openai-chatgpt-profit-6e417661
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19) National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years
Source: SFGate
“A longstanding program connecting young adults from diverse backgrounds with summer jobs in the National Park Service was canceled indefinitely earlier this spring. The National Park Service Academy was a partnership between the National Park Service and the American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit organization providing environmental service opportunities for young adults and ’emerging professionals’. This summer would’ve been the program’s 15th year, according to a job posting for the now-defunct cohort. ‘Are you passionate about working outdoors but don’t know where to start?’ the job posting reads. ‘Do you come from a marginalized background?’ According to a comparison of the park service workforce to the U.S. population, Hispanic, Black, Asian and multiracial people are underrepresented in the agency. Nearly 80% of the park’s superintendents are white, and more than 84% of the rangers are white, according to data obtained by E&E News in 2020.” (05/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/national-park-academy-canceled-20307206.php
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20) Trump to continue Biden’s court defense of abortion drug mifepristone
Source: Reuters
“President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday pushed forward in defending U.S. rules easing access to the abortion drug mifepristone from a legal challenge that began during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. The U.S. Department of Justice in a brief filed in Texas federal court urged a judge to dismiss the lawsuit by three Republican-led states on procedural grounds. While the filing does not discuss the merits of the states’ case, it suggests the Trump administration is in no rush to drop the government’s defense of mifepristone, used in more than 60% of U.S. abortions. Missouri, Kansas and Idaho claim the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acted improperly when it eased restrictions on mifepristone, including by allowing it to be prescribed by telemedicine and dispensed by mail.” (05/05/25)
https://archive.is/pfAWg
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Liberals Need to Talk About Virtue and the Good Life
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell
“Liberals should stop pretending liberalism is value-free, and instead argue that liberal values are better than the alternatives.” (05/06/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/liberals-need-to-talk-about-virtue-and-the-good-life
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22) They Could Have Overruled the Empire as Father and Son
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg
“Warren Buffett’s father should have changed Radical Son David Horowitz’s red diapers. At first glance, Horowitz’s vehement rejection of his card-carrying Communist Party upbringing to become an equally unwavering Grand Old Party loyalist, from voting for Ronald Reagan’s re-election right up until his passing on April 29, would seem the mirror opposite of the path to Buffett’s retirement a week later.” (05/06/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19538
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23) Are you sure you want government to “Make America Healthy Again?”
Source: The Hill
by Merrill Matthews
“If the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ slogan were being promoted by a conventional secretary running the Department of Health and Human Services, one might consider it an aspirational effort to encourage Americans to live healthier lifestyles. But Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is anything but a conventional choice. Having spent years living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle before changing his ways, he now wants to use the government to ‘make’ the rest of us healthy.” (05/06/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/5283988-kennedy-targeting-obesity/
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24) It Could Never Happen Here
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Many Americans remain convinced that tyranny and oppression could never happen here in the United States. We are different from other countries, they say. We are more enlightened. We are exceptional. The United States will always be a free country, no matter what. Of course, there is always a problem with the meaning of the word ‘freedom.’ It means different things to different people. For example, today’s Americans feel free because they live under a welfare state, a national-security state, a foreign military empire, a government-managed economy, a paper-money system directed by a central bank, an income tax, a drug war, and an immigration police state. Yet, our American ancestors prior to 1910 rejected all those things and lived in a society that had none of them.” (05/06/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/05/06/it-could-never-happen-here/
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25) Price Controls for Medicine Have a Devastating Cost
Source: Town Hall
by Victor Riches
“When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, it promised to lower healthcare costs, particularly for Medicare beneficiaries. Central to this effort were two key provisions: Medicare’s Drug Price Negotiation Program and new price caps on selected drugs. That promise, however, may carry unintended costs for patients. Multiple studies since the law’s passage have suggested that those relying on the development of gene therapies or repurposed drugs could face reduced pharmaceutical innovation as a result of the heavy hand of government price setting. The IRA’s Drug Price Negotiation Program will likely trigger two troubling trends, the first being reduced investment in the development of new drugs …. Second, it will weaken incentives to finance research into the repurposing of existing drugs, which has historically yielded efficient, cost-effective breakthroughs—precisely because much of the underlying pharmacological data is already established.” (05/06/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/goldwaterinstitute/2025/05/06/price-controls-for-medicine-have-a-devastating-cost-n2656582
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26) Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Ukraine made military history last week: One of its newest drones shot down a very expensive Russian fighter jet. Yet just as historic was who won credit for this feat. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first congratulated the military. But then he thanked ‘everyone developing and deploying new technological solutions’. By ‘everyone’ he meant thousands of people, even those tinkering with drones in their garage. The Russian invasion has ignited a burst of ingenious engineering in Ukraine and spawned hundreds of startups competing to push the boundaries of drone warfare week by week. Each milestone in drones on the battlefield has slowed Russia’s capabilities. It has also inspired Europe and the United States to boost their defense innovation.” (05/05/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0505/Origins-of-Ukraine-s-drone-creativity
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27) Addressing Cultural Fears Could Renew Public Support for Immigration
Source: The UnPopulist
by Morris Levy & Matthew Wright
“Western democracies are facing intensified global economic competition, even as their populations are aging into retirement. Both dynamics are relentless. To supply labor, spur innovation, and shore up social safety nets, Western societies need immigration now more than ever. Yet in this moment of need, politics is trumping policy. Mainstream leaders who once supported immigration as a boon to their nations’ economic and cultural life are in full-scale retreat.” (05/06/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/addressing-cultural-fears-could-renew
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28) Dave Portnoy Just Blew Up Over an Antisemitic Stunt — Then Did Something Truly Remarkable
Source: Chasing Liberty
by Jeff Charles
“Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy just gave a masterclass on how to deal with bigotry — but he’s getting criticized for it. Portnoy posted a video on Sunday in which he informed his audience that some people had ordered a sign that read, ‘Fuck the Jews’ and displayed it at one of his bars in Philadelphia. Footage showing young college students filming themselves near the sign circulated on social media. Portnoy was visibly angry as he threatened to find out who ordered and displayed the sign and expose them to the world. The video garnered a flood of reactions, with people condemning the actions of these individuals. However, in a follow-up video, Portnoy indicated he’d had a change of heart.” (05/06/25)
https://www.libertychasers.com/p/dave-portnoy-just-blew-up-over-an
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29) Eight Topics to Topple Trump: Sports Can Distract Us (But Not Enough)
Source: TomDispatch
by Robert Lipsyte
“If the overwhelming deluge from the Trumpian firehose of lies, threats, incompetency, illegal actions, and surreality is sweeping you off your feet, driving you to bedridden depression, leaving you passive and breathlessly unable to mount a response, much less resistance, please get into the huddle, take a time-out, and listen up to your Jock Culture coach. (That’s me, of course!) You need some distraction. Have you noticed lately how few sports stories are making their way to the top of the news beams? That’s because sports — once upon a time our most reliable source of outrage, speculation, cultish behavior, and lessons in domination, smackdown intimidation, and faux masculinity — has been replaced by a remarkable series of presidential half-time horror shows. It’s now all Trumpiana all the time. We need to get back to sports.” (05/06/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/sports-can-distract-us-but-not-enough/
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30) Inflation and the Demand for Money: The Confederacy in the Civil War
Source: EconLog
by John Phelan
“When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the Confederacy, like any government in any situation, had three sources of money: taxing, borrowing, or printing.” (05/06/25)
https://www.econlib.org/inflation-and-the-demand-for-money-the-confederacy-in-the-civil-war/
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31) What did my family ever do to Donald Trump?
Source: USA Today
by Richard Wolf
“President Donald Trump’s determination to get back at his perceived enemies has somehow incorporated my entire family. What did we ever do to him? I’m a journalist. My wife is a recreation therapist. My daughter is a lawyer. Sisters: social worker, psychologist. Brothers-in-law: psychiatrist, psychologist. Nieces, nephews: mostly educators. And my son is autistic, though he, too, works and pays taxes. That we – through our chosen professions – have made the president’s ‘enemies list’ is indicative of why a majority of Americans say he’s gone too far.” (05/06/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2025/05/06/trump-targets-schools-science-federal-funding/83378205007/
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32) Understanding The Importance of Justice
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“To many economists, questions of justice are not relevant to the study of free markets. In most situations where people try to invoke arguments about ‘justice,’ they are concerned with distributive justice. Their aim is to address questions of wealth distribution and income inequality. They argue that ‘social justice’ requires the state to redistribute wealth. In this context, Friedrich A. Hayek depicted ‘social justice’ as a meaningless slogan — a mantra wielded by political activists to avoid having to give reasons or justifications for their policies.” (05/06/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/understanding-importance-justice
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33) Greenland Will Never Be for Sale
Source: Common Dreams
by Dud Hendrick
“U.S. President Donald Trump, casting a covetous eye on Greenland, has my attention. I have a history in that place, so little known to Americans in general, having spent the entire year of 1964 at Thule Air Force Base, now Pitufik Space Station, 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The road I’ve traveled since has me deeply concerned about Trump in every respect—believing that everything he represents and wants is contrary to the best interests of our country, the world, and mankind altogether, excepting perhaps oligarchs. At Thule I was responsible for overseeing the maintenance of our air-to-air missiles and for supervising the loading of those missiles on board our F-102 fighter jets in the event of declared hostilities with our great ‘bugaboo’, the Soviet Union.” (05/06/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/greenland-is-not-for-sale
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34) Quantum Vibe, 05/06/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (05/06/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2534
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35) Why It’s So Hard To Find Small Press Books
Source: Persuasion
by Melanie Jennings & Elizabeth Kaye Cook
“In December, we wrote an essay about how small presses still fight the good fight for risky literary fiction, even as the conglomerated Big Five publishers abandon it. In a time when companies like Meta steal books to build generative AI, then claim that individual books ‘are no different from noise’ in terms of their contribution to AI, defending wild fiction matters more than ever. Many readers reached out to us: after too-often plunking down $30 for a well-reviewed but ultimately disappointing new release, they were clamoring for better options. If small and independent presses offered fresher, more challenging books, how could they find and read them? It’s a more difficult question to answer than you might expect.” (05/06/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-its-so-hard-to-find-small-press
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36) Is it legal to enforce the law?
Source: The Pamphleteer
by Davis Hunt
“ICE hit the town early Sunday morning, making over 150 traffic stops and detaining anywhere from 20 to 100 persons deemed illegally [sic] present in the country. The details are scant at the moment, but an official statement from the Tennessee Highway Patrol on the operation revealed that state law enforcement coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on ‘a public safety operation in Davidson County’ focusing in particular on ‘areas with a history of serious traffic crashes and suspected gang activity.’ As you might expect, there has been a big response from local elected officials.” [editor’s note: The “law” — in this case the US Constitution — says that there’s no such thing as being “illegally present” in the United States – TLK] (05/06/25)
https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/is-it-legal-to-enforce-the-law/
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37) Tariff Tension: Will US Shelves Be Empty By Late May?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Trump’s trade war has disrupted shipments, supply chains, and consumer confidence. Shortages and job losses are sure to follow.” (05/06/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/tariff-tension-will-us-shelves-be-empty-by-late-may/
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38) Will We See Mushroom Clouds Over Kashmir?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Eric Margolis
“One of the world’s, oldest and most dangerous conflicts went critical this past week as nuclear armed India and Pakistan traded threats of war. The Kashmir conflict is the oldest one before the UN. In my book `War at the Top of the World’ I warned that the confrontation over Kashmir, the beautiful mountain state claimed by both Islamabad and Delhi, could unleash a nuclear war that could kill millions and pollute the planet. After three wars and many clashes, it seemed the two bad neighbors had allowed the Kashmir dispute to fade into the background as their relations slightly improved. Then came the murder last week of 26 Indian tourists at Pahalgam, a Kashmir beauty spot, by Muslim insurgents.” (05/06/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/eric_margolis/2025/05/05/will-we-see-mushroom-clouds-over-kashmir/
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39) Lobby Horse: Trump’s “trillion dollar” visit to Saudi Arabia
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ben Freeman
“Next week President Trump will take his first international state trip as president and, just as in his first term, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be his first stop. Trump hasn’t minced words about why he’s heading there: money. ‘I said I’ll go if you pay $1 trillion to American companies — meaning the purchase over a four-year period of $1 trillion — and they’ve agreed to do that,’ Trump told reporters on March 7 …. there’s reason to be skeptical of the amount given Trump’s penchant for exaggeration and the fact that $1 trillion is more than the value of the entire Saudi sovereign wealth fund. While it’s unclear how much money is actually at stake and who will get it, there’s one person that is certain to cash in on Saudi Arabia’s financial largesse: Donald Trump.” (05/06/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-saudi-arabia/
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40) Did Trump Do Europe a Favor?
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Fifty years ago this week, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies. In clumsily attempting to declare a new official holiday, ‘Victory Day,’ President Trump got his history wrong, forgetting that World War II continued until Japan surrendered on September 2. The German surrender of May 7, 1945, began an 80-year period in which the United States was the global hegemonic power with Europe as junior partner. Trump has now brought that partnership to an abrupt end. At its best, the Atlantic Alliance was the centerpiece of a rules-based global system that prized democracy and the rule of law. At its worst, the system was a vehicle for American overreach that sometimes gave priority to corporate interests at the expense of democracy.” (05/06/25)
https://prospect.org/world/2025-05-06-did-trump-do-europe-a-favor/
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41) Liberalism vs. Scienctism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mary Carmen Mead
“The Covid-19 pandemic was a disaster. We can all agree on that. But are we willing to ask and figure out why? The fact that ‘there have been so few academic conferences and university symposia’ devoted to Covid-19 suggests the answer is no. This is ‘astonishing,’ Stephen Macedo and Francis Lee point out in their new book, In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us. Yet ‘the profound impact of Covid and the policies and emergency measures deployed to combat it’ would seem to warrant retrospective analysis, if not rigorous debate.” (05/06/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/liberalism-vs-scienctism/
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42) Don’t Blockade the Blockbuster
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Diogo Costa
“Once upon a time, America won the world’s imagination by telling stories that were human, bold, and universal. Now, President Trump’s talk about a 100% tariff on foreign-made movies risks replacing creativity with protectionism, and cultural influence with retreat. Trump’s Truth Social post claims the US film industry is ‘dying a very fast death’ due to foreign incentives and labels international films a ‘national security threat.’ However, the real danger here is economic confusion and cultural stagnation.” (05/06/25)
https://fee.org/articles/dont-blockade-the-blockbuster/
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43) Iran, Vietnam, and Trump’s Chance for Peace
Source: The American Conservative
by David Gornoski
“President Donald Trump, now past his first 100 days in his second term, has vowed to keep America out of endless wars. His bold push for a ‘great trade deal’ with Iran is a chance to make good on that promise. But the war hawks in Washington and elsewhere are peddling a poison pill: Any deal, they insist, must include the total destruction of Iran’s civilian nuclear program, not just a commitment to forgo nuclear weapons. Iran has called this a non-starter. History offers a better path. Vietnam, once America’s Cold War boogeyman, shows how trade, travel, and dialogue can turn enemies into partners. Trump should seize this moment, ignore the neocons, and strike a deal that brings prosperity and peace.” (05/06/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/iran-vietnam-and-trumps-chance-for-peace/
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44) Famous name aside, Alcatraz would make a terrible deportation jail
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“‘The name of Napoleon,’ said the French emperor Napoleon III, ‘is a program in itself.’ The same is true of Alcatraz, or as President Trump put it in a Truth Social post announcing his intention to re-open the prison in San Francisco Bay, ‘ALCATRAZ.’ In his post, Trump declared, ‘We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job,’ and re-building Alcatraz ‘will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.’ Trump is given to exemplary displays of strength and toughness, so it’s no wonder that he’s drawn to America’s most theatrically forbidding penitentiary, with three major motion pictures and counting devoted to it. Say what you will about Leavenworth, Clint Eastwood has never starred in a movie about trying to escape from it. ” (05/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/05/05/opinion/famous-name-aside-alcatraz-would-make-a-bad-deport-jail/
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45) “REAL ID” is coming for you
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“It is my second trip to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles in four days. I admit from the start it is my fault that I had to make two trips. When I traveled two weeks ago, the friendly TSA agents reminded me (repeatedly) that come May 7, I would need to bring my passport as my valid Virginia driver’s license was non-compliant with the REAL ID Act. I was vaguely aware that the push for new ‘REAL’ IDs was back, the requirement to obtain one having been suspended during Covid, but unaware that the deadline loomed. So last Thursday I trekked to my local DMV office, bringing along my current, valid, Virginia driver’s license, my current, valid passport, my Social Security Card and my birth certificate. Surely, I supposed, that would be enough as I’d been assured I could fly with just the passport by the helpful Team TSA.” (05/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-real-id-coming-you
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46) Trump is warning about shortages. Will kids have toys this Christmas?
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“Like many of our readers, I’m sure, I’ve been stocking up on various items that are made in China before the price rises. That seems to me a good metaphor for the odd period we’re in: We know what’s coming, but it hasn’t arrived yet. President Donald Trump is preparing us for what it might look like, though, recently warning that ‘maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.’ Is this what the post-‘Liberation Day’ economy will look like come the holidays? And how will Americans react to empty shelves or price hikes for goods they expect to be cheap and plentiful? I spoke with my colleagues Philip Bump and Jim Geraghty about the politics of shortages.” (05/05/25)
https://archive.is/ZZfmZ
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47) No Deal for Gun Control: North Carolina and the “Wicked Rebellion” Against the British
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“NO DEAL – That was the response from the Sons of Liberty and other North Carolina patriots in 1776 to a British ‘offer’ – surrender your guns, abandon your allies, give up your right to local self-government – in exchange for a promise of peace. That moment was more than a turning point in history – it offers enduring lessons for confronting centralized power today.” (05/05/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/05/05/no-deal-for-gun-control-north-carolina-and-the-wicked-rebellion-against-the-british/
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48) “Free” Transit Is Anything But
Source: Show-Me Institute
by David Stokes
“People don’t appreciate things that are free, for good reason. One of the most famous insults in film history is on point here, when Rodney Dangerfield notices Ted Knight’s ugly golf hat in ‘Caddyshack’ and says, ‘I bet you get a free bowl of soup with that hat.’ The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) didn’t give out free soup to riders when it made all transit free in 2020, but it might as well have. Free transit is great if your goal is to turn buses into mobile homeless shelters. If your goal is to provide quality, safe, affordable transit, then making it free is the last thing you would want to do.” (05/05/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/transportation/free-transit-is-anything-but/
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49) The Latest Plot To Privatize Public Lands
Source: In These Times
by Joseph Bullington
“On a recent visit to see old friends in Livingston, Mont., I found myself downtown, drinking the free art-walk wine, spearing the free cocktail weenies and admiring the fine skin of the expensively dressed couples bobbing in and out of the galleries that have proliferated here like some aggressive breed of plant. …. a ramshackle Subaru station wagon with local plates came trundling up Main Street, piled floor to ceiling with belongings. ’Fuck!’ shrieked the driver, as he pounded the steering wheel. ’I fucking hate this!’ The scene struck me as emblematic of life in the modern West, where a class of wealthy newcomers is snuggling into a comfortable, healthy, fulfilling lifestyle and unwealthy locals are left to wage desperate, doomed gambits to afford surging housing costs.” (05/06/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/american-west-public-lands-affordable-housing-gentrification
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50) Trump administration’s hostility to due process is un-American
Source: Orange County Register
by Juan Vargas
“As a young adult, I entered the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order, where among other missions, I worked with orphaned children and internally displaced people in El Salvador during their civil war. It was a dangerous time, and people were frequently ‘disappeared.’ I never thought I’d be watching similar scenes play out here in America. In March, President Donald Trump invoked the archaic Alien Enemies Act to disappear over 100 Venezuelan immigrants to a megaprison in El Salvador. … The law has been used just three times: in the War of 1812, World War I, and, infamously, in World War II to imprison Japanese-Americans in internment camps — a shameful chapter in our history. Trump has illegally used this law now to sidestep due process.” (05/05/25)
https://archive.is/FgFnG
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 05/06/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Invading Mexico Again?” (05/06/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CfWyWEuYjo
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52) (Re)Imagining Liberty, 05/06/25
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
“Forging an Opposition to Trump.” (05/06/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/forging-an-opposition-to-trump
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53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 06/06/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Seethes as Karl Rove’s Harsh On-Air Poll Warning Deflates MAGA.” (05/06/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/194891/trump-seethes-karl-rove-harsh-on-air-poll-warning-deflates-maga
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54) Capital Record, episode 233
Source: National Review
“When Engagement Is Enjoyable and Valuable.” (05/06/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/when-engagement-is-enjoyable-and-valuable/
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55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/06/25
Source: Law & Liberty
“Border Disorder.” (05/06/25)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/border-disorder/
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56) Advisory Opinions, 05/06/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Right-on-Right Violence.” (05/06/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/right-on-right-violence/
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57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israeli Government OKs Plan To Conquer Gaza, Israel Launches Major Airstrikes on Yemen, and More.” (05/06/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UHdi4RT_28
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58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/05/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Post-‘Libertarian’ Christian Nationalism Again.” (05/05/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLKASJTjp34
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59) System Update, episode 449
Source: System Update
“NIH Ends Fauci’s Brutal Dog Experiments; MTG and Massie Shut Down Law to Criminalize Israel Boycotts.” (05/05/25)
https://rumble.com/v6t05s9-system-update-show-449.html
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60) Finding Freedom, 05/05/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Trump Imposes Tariff on Movies Made in Foreign Lands.” (05/05/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/trump-imposes-tariff-on-movies-mades-in-foreign-lands
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