04/03 -- Iranian forces launch missiles at Israel and Gulf states as explosions hit Tehran; We must resist the rule of the technocrats
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Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 3, 2026, 6:03:59 AM (8 days ago) Apr 3
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/03/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Iranian forces launch missiles at Israel and Gulf states as explosions hit Tehran
2) Trump throws Bondi under the bus
3) Ukraine war: Russian forces maintain day-long drone barrage of
4) Bitcoin Sell-Off Begins as Miners Sell Over 15,000 BTC in Q1 2026
5) DR Congo: At least 43 killed in ADF attack
6) Appeals court tosses sentence of Colorado elections clerk
7) VT: Labor Board Orders State to End Return-To-Office Requirement for Employees
8) Russia: Court sentences German artist in absentia for mocking Putin
9) US mortgage rates climb for fifth straight week
10) Trump regime prepares up to 100% pharmaceutical tariffs on American buyers of some imported drugs
11) Azerbaijan: Court Upholds Conviction of Political Prisoner, Lawyer Says
12) ICC moves ahead with disciplinary proceedings against chief prosecutor Khan
13) Refugee’s death after abduction, release by US immigration authorities ruled homicide
14) US jobless aid filings fall to 202,000 as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty of Iran war
15) Russia plans to send second oil tanker to Cuba
16) US regime lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s Rodriguez amid warming ties
17) Utah teen identified as victim of serial killer Ted Bundy
18) Danish warship sunk by Nelson’s British fleet discovered after 225 years
19) Mahmoud Khalil wants ex-Justice Department official off panel of judges weighing his appeal
20) Democrats sue Trump regime over attempt to rig elections by “executive order”
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) We must resist the rule of the technocrats
22) A Year After “Liberation Day,” Trump’s Tariffs Will Never Be Legitimate Without a Vote in Congress
23) The war for oil that backfired: Trump’s “energy dominance” illusion
24) Afroman Can’t Beat Qualified Immunity
25) Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown
26) The Empire Is Losing Its Ability To Hide Its Ugly Nature
27) UK government admits the obvious: Free countries shouldn’t police legal speech
28) Print Blocking is Anti-Consumer
29) Let’s Be Very Clear: Trump’s Iran War Is Making You Poorer
30) Regime Change
31) Sanity [sic] must be restored [sic] to birthright citizenship
32) Anarchists and Crime
33) Anti-Birthright Escalation a Cautionary Tale for the US
34) Who Gets to Block the Sun?
35) Seducing People When It Comes to War
36) Against Fairness?
37) Throw Iran to the Wolves
38) The Behemoth of Global Corruption Is an Extension of Ourselves
39) East Asia Foots the Bill For Washington’s Iran War
40) The FBI’s FOIA Blacklist
41) For Passover: Four Questions Trump’s Iran War Speech Didn’t Answer
42) Liberty Beyond “Rational Control”
43) Burnt Toast, Stoics, and Finding Growth in Small Frustrations
44) Trump’s April Fools’ Address to the nation
45) Shutdown ends with America doubting there was ever any point to it in the first place
46) Is it safe to use Signal?
47) The Circular Logic of Trump’s War with Iran
48) Time to Tune Out Spyworld
49) More Than A Slogan: Labor’s New Gambit to Tax the Rich
50) How China Went Capitalist
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Fifth Column, episode 551
52) Political Theater, 04/02/26
53) The Libertarian Angle, 04/02/26
54) Radio Atlantic, 04/02/26
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/02/26
56) Capital Record, episode 292
57) Rising, 04/02/26
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 04/02/26
59) Underthrow Podcast, 04/02/26
60) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 04/02/26
61) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 04/01/26
62) The Science of Politics, 04/01/26
63) Nonzero, 04/01/26
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2748
65) SolutionsWatch, 04/01/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Iranian forces launch missiles at Israel and Gulf states as explosions hit Tehran
Source: Rochester First
“Iran’s missiles set alight a refinery and damaged a desalination plant in Kuwait on Friday as Israeli and U.S. strikes kept hitting Iran. As the war that began Feb. 28 was to enter its sixth week, Israel, Bahrain and Kuwait warned about incoming missile fire, although it was unclear if anything was struck. Activists in Iran reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan.” (04/03/26)
https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/international/ap-the-latest-iran-launches-missiles-at-israel-and-gulf-states-as-explosions-heard-around-tehran/
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2) Trump throws Bondi under the bus
Source: Reuters
“U.S. President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post, a White House official said on Thursday, following mounting frustration with her performance, including her handling of investigative files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had also reportedly grown frustrated that Bondi was not moving quickly enough to prosecute critics and adversaries who he wanted to face criminal charges. In a social media post, Trump praised Bondi as ‘a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend’ and said she will move to a job in the private sector. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, will lead the Justice Department in the interim.” (04/02/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-fires-pam-bondi-us-attorney-general-cnn-fox-2026-04-02/
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3) Ukraine war: Russian forces maintain day-long drone barrage of
Source: AOL
“Russian forces maintained a day-long barrage of drone strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Thursday, injuring at least two people, local officials said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov posted reports on Telegram throughout the day and well into the evening, noting strikes in four city districts. One city official said there had been at least 20 impacts from drones. Further south, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said a Russian attack damaged a high-rise apartment building and a local business. No injuries were reported. Over the border in Russia’s Belgorod Region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 13 people were injured in a series of drone attacks, 11 of them in the village of Shebekino, just inside the border.” (04/02/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/russian-forces-maintain-day-long-220012118.html
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4) Bitcoin Sell-Off Begins as Miners Sell Over 15,000 BTC in Q1 2026
Source: TradingView
“After aggressively accumulating Bitcoin over the past two years, several public companies are now reversing course. With BTC hovering around $66K and prolonged price weakness weighing on balance sheets, firms, especially mining companies, are increasingly offloading holdings to stay liquid.” (04/03/26)
https://www.tradingview.com/news/coinpedia:2568b3efe094b:0-bitcoin-sell-off-begins-as-miners-sell-over-15-000-btc-in-q1-2026/
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5) DR Congo: At least 43 killed in ADF attack
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“At least 43 people have been killed in an attack by a rebel group linked to ISIL (ISIS) in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the army. Regional army spokesperson Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi Ngongo said on Thursday that at least ’43 compatriots were killed and 44 houses torched’ during the previous day’s attack in Bafwakoa, located in Mambasa territory, in the province of Ituri. Authorities blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group led by former Ugandan rebels that has sworn allegiance to ISIL.” (04/02/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/2/at-least-43-people-killed-in-adf-attack-in-northeast-dr-congo-army-says
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6) Appeals court tosses sentence of Colorado elections clerk
Source: United Press International
“A Colorado appeals court on Thursday threw out the sentence of Tina Peters, a former elections clerk, who was convicted in an election data case. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2024 on seven of the 10 counts for which she was charged. She allowed an unauthorized person to make copies of voting machine hard drives that included classified information. The data from those drives was then leaked online by conspiracy theorists who falsely said it proved President Donald Trump correct in his assertion that the 2020 election was ‘stolen.’ Trump later pardoned Peters, but Colorado officials said he has no power to do so because she was convicted by the state. … The judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that District Judge Matthew Barrett wrongfully used Peters’ beliefs and promotion of election fraud conspiracy theories in his sentencing.” (04/02/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/02/tina-peters-sentence-overturned/6531775153086/
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7) VT: Labor Board Orders State to End Return-To-Office Requirement for Employees
Source: US News & World Report
“The Vermont Labor Relations Board has ordered that Gov. Phil Scott’s administration ‘rescind’ a controversial requirement that state employees return to their physical offices three days per week. The board, a non-judicial body that makes decisions on the labor grievances of state employees, said in its decision Wednesday that the state has ‘refused to bargain in good faith and interfered with employees’ exercise of rights’ in requiring in-person work. Scott called the decision ‘disappointing, but not surprising’ in his weekly press conference Wednesday, and said the board’s membership is ‘weighted towards labor.'” (04/02/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/vermont/articles/2026-04-02/vermont-labor-board-orders-state-to-end-return-to-office-requirement-for-employees
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8) Russia: Court sentences German artist in absentia for mocking Putin
Source: ABC News
“A German artist who created carnival displays mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin was sentenced in absentia on Thursday to 8 1/2 years in prison by a court In Moscow. Jacques Tilly was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military and insulting religious feelings. Carnival parades in Germany are famed for their floats mocking a wide variety of domestic and global political figures, and Putin has frequently been a target. Tilly, 62, has been designing and building floats for Düsseldorf’s Carnival parade — one of Germany’s best-known — since 1984. In recent years, his designs have depicted Putin scrubbing himself in a bathtub filled with blood and painted in the colors of the Ukraine flag, while another featured a red-faced Putin biting into Ukraine, which was decorated with the words ‘Choke on it!'” (04/02/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/german-artist-sentenced-russian-court-carnival-display-mocking-131652317
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9) US mortgage rates climb for fifth straight week
Source: CNN
“Average US mortgage rates climbed again for the fifth week in a row, making homebuying more expensive than it was just a few weeks ago, before the outbreak of war with Iran. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.46% this week, jumping from 6.38% the previous week and reaching the highest level in seven months, according to Freddie Mac. The rise may be unwelcome news for those hoping to buy a home this spring, typically the busiest time of year for the housing market. During the last week of February, before the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 5.98%.” (04/02/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/economy/us-mortgage-rates-iran
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10) Trump regime prepares up to 100% pharmaceutical tariffs on American buyers of some imported drugs
Source: CNBC
“The Trump administration is preparing to impose new tariffs on [American buyers of] branded drugs from pharmaceutical companies that have not struck landmark deals with the president to lower their U.S. drug prices, CNBC has learned. [American buyers of] Patented medications and their active ingredients would be hit with a 100% tariff, according to a draft of the document obtained by CNBC. But there are pathways for drugmakers to reduce or avoid the levies [on American buyers] if they move their manufacturing to the U.S. or are negotiating deals with the administration. … The plan would represent another shift in Trump’s aggressive trade strategy, more than a month after the Supreme Court struck down the global levies he imposed in 2025, which excluded the pharmaceutical industry.” (04/02/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/trump-pharmaceutical-tariffs-100percent.html
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11) Azerbaijan: Court Upholds Conviction of Political Prisoner, Lawyer Says
Source: US News & World Reports
“The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on Thursday rejected an appeal by a prominent opposition politician who is serving a nine-year prison sentence, his lawyer told Reuters. Tofig Yagublu, 65, is a member of the opposition Musavat party and has been jailed numerous times over three decades for protesting against the government of the South Caucasus country. Yagublu was arrested in December 2023 and convicted in March last year of fraud and document forgery. His supporters say the case is politically motivated, while the authorities maintain he was rightly convicted of crimes.” (04/02/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-02/azerbaijan-upholds-conviction-of-opposition-politician-lawyer-says
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12) ICC moves ahead with disciplinary proceedings against chief prosecutor Khan
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“ICC member states have voted to pursue disciplinary proceedings against Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan after receiving reports regarding sexual assault allegations against him, according to a Wall Street Journal report. In a vote on Wednesday by a core group of member states, 15 voted in favour, two abstained and four voted against moving forward with the process, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Khan, who investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, has taken leave of absence pending an inquiry into accusations of non-consensual sexual interaction with a lawyer in his office. He rejects any allegations of wrongdoing.” (04/02/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/icc-moves-forward-case-against-chief-prosecutor-khan
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13) Refugee’s death after abduction, release by US immigration authorities ruled homicide
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The death in the US of ‘nearly blind’ refugee Nurul Amin Shah Alam, who was found outdoors in freezing temperatures days after his release from federal immigration custody, has been ruled a homicide in New York state. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office said Shah Alam’s death in the city of Buffalo was caused by ‘complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer, precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration.’ The designation of homicide may include negligent acts or omissions, the local officials said. It does not imply intent to cause harm or death, or indicate criminality. In response, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman told the BBC it was ‘another hoax being peddled by the media and sanctuary politicians to demonise our law enforcement.'” (04/02/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gx8l7w4jjo
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14) US jobless aid filings fall to 202,000 as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty of Iran war
Source: WTOP News
“U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week as layoffs remain sparse despite a softening labor market and rising energy costs due to the Iran war. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending March 28 fell by 9,000 to 202,000 from the previous week’s 211,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 212,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting and within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” (04/02/26)
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2026/04/us-jobless-aid-filings-fall-to-202000-as-layoffs-remain-low-despite-uncertainty-of-iran-war/
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15) Russia plans to send second oil tanker to Cuba
Source: SFGate
“Russia plans to send a second oil tanker to Cuba, the country’s energy minister said Thursday, citing the island’s ongoing energy blockade and reiterating Russia’s solidarity with the troubled Caribbean nation. The announcement comes just two days after sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin docked at the Cuban port of Matanzas laden with 730,000 barrels of oil, marking the first time in three months that an oil tanker reached the island. Experts have said that shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.” (04/02/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/moscow-plans-to-send-2nd-oil-tanker-to-cuba-22185631.php
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16) US regime lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s Rodriguez amid warming ties
Source: United Press International
“The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s interim president [sic], Delcy Rodriguez, in the latest sign of warming relations between Washington and Caracas after the U.S. military ousted Venezuela’s former authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced in a post on its website Wednesday that Rodriguez, 56, had been removed from its Specially Designated Nationals list, unfreezing any assets that may have been under her name in the United States while allowing her to conduct business in the United States and with U.S. persons.” [editor’s note: The administration of which Rodriguez was a member was defeated in last year’s election; legally, she holds no position in Venezuela’s regime – TLK] (04/02/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/02/Delcy-Rodriguez-sanctions/4721775114744/
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17) Utah teen identified as victim of serial killer Ted Bundy
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Officials in Utah have formally closed a 51-year-old cold case after using new DNA technology to identify a murdered teenager as a victim of serial killer Ted Bundy. Laura Ann Aime, 17, disappeared after leaving a party on Halloween in 1974. Her body was discovered about one month later by hikers in the American Fork Canyon. On Wednesday, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office announced that new testing ‘confirmed irrefutably that DNA evidence recovered from Laura’s body verified the existence of DNA belonging to Bundy.’ … Before he was executed in Florida in 1989, Bundy confessed to Laura’s killing, but since he would not elaborate or give any detail to his actual involvement in her death, ‘the Sheriff’s Department elected to keep this case open until investigators could prove, without a shadow of doubt,’ that he was her killer, the sheriff said in a statement.” (04/02/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lendp6390o
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18) Danish warship sunk by Nelson’s British fleet discovered after 225 years
Source: Seattle Times
“More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm. Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor by marine archaeologists. Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 meters (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers are in a race against time to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast. Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the monthslong underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/yKmmg
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19) Mahmoud Khalil wants ex-Justice Department official off panel of judges weighing his appeal
Source: SFGate
“Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student fighting deportation, have asked Judge Emil Bove to step aside from an appellate panel that could weigh in on his case because of Bove’s previous role as a top Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters. Khalil’s lawyers this week asked that the full complement of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals — minus Bove — review and reverse a January ruling by a panel of three 3rd Circuit judges that put the Trump administration one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the pro-Palestinian activist. As the Justice Department’s Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, Bove ‘directed immigration enforcement investigations and decisions against student protesters on college campuses,’ including at Columbia, Khalil’s lawyers wrote. Bove’s immigration enforcement work ‘demonstrates the existence, or at least the appearance of, a conflict of interest’ that should disqualify him from having a say in Khalil’s appeal, they said.” (04/02/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/activist-mahmoud-khalil-wants-ex-justice-22185776.php
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20) Democrats sue Trump regime over attempt to rig elections by “executive order”
Source: Politico
“Democratic Party leaders filed suit Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit voting by mail ahead of the midterm elections. Democrats argue that an executive order Trump signed at the White House on Tuesday, which creates an approved list of absentee voters among other actions, is an unconstitutional interference in the power of states to regulate elections. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association in suing to challenge the order. ‘President Trump possesses no such authority to order such a sweeping change to American elections,’ the suit argues.” (04/01/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/01/democrats-sue-trump-administration-mail-in-voting-00855093
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) We must resist the rule of the technocrats
Source: spiked
by Paul O’Connor
“From public-health policy to climate change, more and more issues are being removed from public control and handed to ostensibly neutral specialists. Though they may maintain a façade of democratic procedure, today’s Western societies are largely governed by an alliance between expert knowledge and managerial power. They would be more accurately described by the term ‘technocracy.’ Cast your mind back to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was not an aberration, but a revelation. … We might, understandably, be inclined to regard the Covid lockdowns as a bad memory – something best forgotten. But that would be a mistake. The state overreach, censorship, obsession with risk and distrust in people’s ability to make their own decisions were not exceptions to the norm, but the new norm.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/EHU96
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22) A Year After “Liberation Day,” Trump’s Tariffs Will Never Be Legitimate Without a Vote in Congress
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm
“There is no doubt that Congress has traded away a lot of its authority over trade policy in the past few decades. But, as the Trump administration is now learning, those policies do not allow for the open-ended, anything-goes approach that Trump wants to take. The IEEPA tariffs were tripped up by the plain text of the underlying law, which courts at all levels agreed did not include the power to tariff. The new Section 122 tariffs face a similar legal challenge over the administration’s attempt to read broad powers into a narrowly tailored law. There is an easy solution to all this. Put a tariff bill in front of Congress. Of course, there is an equally obvious reason why Trump has refused to do that. It would be unlikely to pass.” [editor’s note: And even if it did pass, taxation would still be theft – TLK] (04/02/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/02/a-year-after-liberation-day-trumps-tariffs-will-never-be-legitimate-without-a-vote-in-congress/
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23) The war for oil that backfired: Trump’s “energy dominance” illusion
Source: The Hill
by Brahma Chellaney
“When President Trump launched his war on Iran, attention fixed on missiles, drones and the risks of escalation. The real story lay elsewhere: a grandiose and ultimately reckless vision of American ‘energy dominance’ that helped propel Washington into war. This was not simply a security decision, but an economic and ideological gamble rooted in Trump’s long-held belief that U.S. control over international energy flows would translate into global geopolitical supremacy and arrest America’s relative decline. In his second term, that belief hardened into doctrine. But in Iran, it collided with reality.” (04/02/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5810758-the-war-for-oil-that-backfired/
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24) Afroman Can’t Beat Qualified Immunity
Source: Downsize DC
by Jim Babka
“Afroman can’t beat qualified immunity, and neither can you. But wait, didn’t he win his case? That’s what all the headlines are saying. Yes. He overcame his defamation case. It’s a great victory for free speech. But before that case ever went to trial, he lost a fight that few are talking about. … He wanted the deputies held accountable for the damage they did to his home: the broken door, the smashed gate, the detached cameras, and the $400 in cash that went ‘missing’ during the raid. The judge dismissed his claims. No jury. No hearing. Just gone. Think about that. The deputies got a full jury trial over hurt feelings from a music video. But … Afroman couldn’t get a hearing over a broken door and ‘missing’ money.” (04/02/26)
https://downsizedc.org/afroman-qualified-immunity/
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25) Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown
Source: Wired
by Ali Winston & Maddy Varner
“A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/CFOgS
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26) The Empire Is Losing Its Ability To Hide Its Ugly Nature
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“It used to be hard to help westerners see the depravity of the US empire. Now it’s just right in everyone’s face with raw genocide footage and insanely evil warmongering of direct economic consequence. It took a lot of work to help the average westerner understand that NATO aggressions actively provoked the war in Ukraine, or that western interventionism played a major role in the violence and chaos in Syria, or that US economic warfare was largely responsible for the suffering of Cubans and Venezuelans. The murderous savagery of the empire was hidden behind layers of obfuscation, allowing the propagandists to frame the western power structure as a passive witness to the abuses of foreign regimes. Now the propagandists have very little to work with, so those obfuscations can no longer take place.” (04/02/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/02/the-empire-is-losing-its-ability-to-hide-its-ugly-nature/
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27) UK government admits the obvious: Free countries shouldn’t police legal speech
Source: Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“With an act designated as ‘non-crime,’ you might reasonably expect the role for law enforcement to be quite limited. No crime means no cops … right? For years, though, the United Kingdom has allowed a system of police intervention and record-keeping over ‘non-crime hate incidents’ — including legal speech — to flourish. But new Home Office guidance intends to ‘prevent police from recording lawful free speech.’ Will this signal a new step forward for the UK? It’s complicated.” (04/02/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/uk-government-admits-the-obvious
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28) Print Blocking is Anti-Consumer
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Rory Mir
“[3D printers] come in many forms and can construct nearly any shape with a variety of materials. This has made them absolutely crucial for anything from life-saving medical equipment, to little Iron Man helmets for cats, to everyday repairs. … Unfortunately some state legislators are looking to repeat old mistakes by demanding printer vendors install an enshittification switch. In the U.S, three states have recently proposed that commercial 3D-printer manufacturers must ensure their printers only work with their software, and are responsible for checking each print for forbidden shapes — for now, any shape vendors consider too gun-like.” (04/02/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/print-blocking-anti-consumer-permission-print-part-1
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29) Let’s Be Very Clear: Trump’s Iran War Is Making You Poorer
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“Our Secretary of Defense (or War) Pete Hegseth seems to be having a really great time killing people in Iran, but his live action video games come at a big cost, not just in lives, but in budget dollars. To be clear, the main reason to be opposed to this pointless war is its impact on the people of Iran and elsewhere in the region. But it also has a huge economic cost that is seriously underappreciated. The short-term cost is the shortage of oil, natural gas, fertilizers, and other items that would ordinarily travel through the Straits of Hormuz. This shortage has already sent prices of many items soaring. The impact is not just on the goods themselves, but there is a large secondary impact due to higher shipping costs, and if fertilizer supplies are not resumed soon, higher food prices, due to lower crop yields.” (04/02/26)
https://cepr.net/publications/lesson-from-the-iran-war-42765-making-enemies-makes-us-poorer/
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30) Regime Change
Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Price
“The petrodollar, per Grok, refers to U.S. dollars earned by oil-exporting countries (primarily OPEC members, plus others like Russia and Norway) from crude oil exports. It is not a separate currency but simply dollars received in payment for oil. The term also describes the broader petrodollar system: the longstanding global practice of pricing and trading most international oil in U.S. dollars, which creates sustained worldwide demand for the dollar. … The decision by the West to freeze Russia’s foreign reserves (including US dollars and US Treasury bonds) was the first nail in the coffin for the dollar, obliging sovereign countries to favour stateless assets such as gold. The decision by the US to join Israel in military adventuring against Iran will likely prove the first nail in the coffin for the petrodollar (and similarly boost prospects for the likes of gold over the medium term).” (04/02/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/04/regime-change/
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31) Sanity [sic] must be restored [sic] to birthright citizenship
Source: Fox News
by Mike Davis
“At the core of our sovereignty is the right to determine who is entitled to citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship to people born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a case concerning the lawfulness of President Trump’s commonsense executive order that restores the original understanding of birthright citizenship.” [editor’s note: Even before the 14th Amendment, the US practiced birthright citizenship from its founding, as did it its parent country. “Born here, citizen here” IS the original understanding – TLK] (04/02/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-davis-sanity-must-restored-birthright-citizenship
-----
32) Anarchists and Crime
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Katrina Gulliver
“The anarchist ‘movement’ (if we could apply such a concept to a decentralized group) was the beginning of modern global terrorism. The idea that killing, bombing, were a tactic to bring adversaries to the negotiating table, in the age of mass media, was a novel concept, in the late nineteenth century. It would be a model followed by various political sects to come. But anarchists did not want negotiations.” (04/02/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/anarchists-and-crime-403
-----
33) Anti-Birthright Escalation a Cautionary Tale for the US
Source: Common Dreams
by Jordan Liz
“On April 1, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s executive order to ban birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. Every lower court that has ruled on this issue thus far has found this executive order to be straightforwardly unconstitutional — and they are correct. The 14th Amendment is clear: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.'” (04/02/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dr-birthright-us
-----
34) Who Gets to Block the Sun?
Source: The Atlantic
by Alexander C Kaufman
“The world’s first major private geoengineering start-up must have known it’d have skeptics. The basic premise — dimming the sun to artificially cool the planet — has been called reckless by scientists and climate advocates; military analysts have said it has real security risks. (Don’t even get conspiracy theorists started.) Still, Stardust Solutions, an American-Israeli company planning to build a solar-reflecting system in the next few years, has enough fans that it raised $60 million in 2025. Now it’s trying to bring around the public and ease concerns over a technology for which its founders would prefer there wasn’t any conceivable global need.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/wRr6c
-----
35) Seducing People When It Comes to War
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“In a non-elected dictatorship, the dictator doesn’t need to secure anyone’s consent to initiate a war. He simply initiates it on his own by ordering his military to attack another country. It’s possible, of course, to have a dictatorship within a democratic form of government. Dictatorship depends on the extent of power wielded by the ruler, not by how he got to be ruler. Thus, a democratically elected ruler can end up wielding and exercising the same types of omnipotent, totalitarian powers as an unelected dictator who has simply taken power by force. In a democracy, however, a ruler must seduce the citizenry into supporting the war, especially since war inevitably involves the destruction of people’s own freedom at the hands of their own government.” (04/02/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/04/02/seducing-people-when-it-comes-to-war/
-----
36) Against Fairness?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Nah, it’s just Democrats who think that, because I won’t vote for their proposed constitutional amendment allowing the legislature to redraw my state’s congressional districts. The official question on the April 21 ballot reads: ‘Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?’ What, exactly, is ‘fair’ about this amendment?” (04/02/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/02/against-fairness/
-----
37) Throw Iran to the Wolves
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“First off, I’m writing this before President Donald Trump speaks to the nation tonight, where I expect him to declare victory and announce something about when we’ll be done in Iran. Good. That doesn’t change my opinion about what comes next, so the submission deadline does not negate what follows. The Iranian regime wants to die; help them with that. Whatever shell of a government is left is launching rockets randomly at its neighbors, which indicates they’d rather fight until they’re dead than reconstitute itself into something that isn’t threatening to the rest of the world, so we should facilitate that end. How do we do that? Well, we’ve weakened them to the point that the people of Iran could rise and rip them apart – pull a Mussolini and string up their oppressors.” (04/02/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/04/02/throw-iran-to-the-wolves-n2673811
-----
38) The Behemoth of Global Corruption Is an Extension of Ourselves
Source: Brownstone Institute
by David Bell
“Hard times. Emerging from an apparently engineered pandemic, now in another war for ephemeral reasons, a resultant economic crisis that is exacerbating unmanageable debt, we find ethnic cleansing and inter-ethnic hatred are increasingly back in vogue. It’s easy to imagine a nefarious program is being orchestrated by a nasty and entrenched elite, aiming to plunder and enslave the rest of us. Such an idea is clearly not baseless, but nonetheless completely misleading in the solutions it suggests. ‘If only we could jail them, or have a Nuremberg Two, things would be better …’ However, Nuremberg One did not stop ethnic cleansing, targeting of religious groups, wars and mass death based on straight-out lies, or mass medical coercion for power and money. A couple of obvious reasons stand out for this.” (04/02/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-behemoth-of-global-corruption-is-an-extension-of-ourselves/
-----
39) East Asia Foots the Bill For Washington’s Iran War
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“As the United States and Israel press their war of aggression against Iran — now entering its second month — attention has understandably focused on the carnage in the Middle East. Yet with the Strait of Hormuz effectively blockaded and global energy markets in turmoil, the conflict’s ripples extend far beyond the Persian Gulf. In East Asia, America’s closest treaty allies, Japan and South Korea, are absorbing punishing economic shocks from their dependence on Middle Eastern oil, while Washington’s diversion of military assets has left them feeling exposed and annoyed. Meanwhile, Beijing, Washington’s bete noire, looks on with barely concealed satisfaction, its state media churning out satirical videos that mock yet another American entanglement in the region’s endless conflicts. For those who have long warned that empire abroad undermines security and prosperity at home, the spectacle offers a textbook case of the predictable, if unintended, costs of interventionism.” (04/02/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/east-asia-foots-the-bill-for-washingtons-iran-war
-----
40) The FBI’s FOIA Blacklist
Source: Antiwar.com
by Patrick Eddington
“The Freedom of Information Act was designed to empower citizens to hold their government accountable. But evidence suggests the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has quietly adopted a practice that turns that principle on its head: labeling some of the people who file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests as ‘vexsome.’ In effect, the agency has created a FOIA-specific blacklist. Yet when asked, it denies having done so.” (04/02/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/patrick_eddington/2026/04/01/the-fbis-foia-blacklist
-----
41) For Passover: Four Questions Trump’s Iran War Speech Didn’t Answer
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“As America is no stranger to war, it’s also no stranger to presidential addresses that justify and report on the wars then ongoing. No matter whether we’re winning or losing, first-strikers or get-struck-firsters, advancing or just holding the line, every previous wartime president has managed to stay on topic. But not Donald Trump. His Wednesday night speech was notable only in that he repeatedly strayed off topic. … Even granting that the topic of every Trump speech is Trump, that theme plays least well in an address supposedly intended to convince his fellow citizens that the course on which he’s set the nation is worth the sacrifices of combat and the travails (in this case, economic) of the home front.” (04/02/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/02/for-passover-4-questions-trumps-iran-war-speech-didnt-answer/
-----
42) Liberty Beyond “Rational Control”
Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney
“[Harvey] Mansfield is a political scientist as much as a political philosopher, an Aristotelian who never disparages moral virtue, political nobility, or patriotic attachment to a decent and free political order such as the United States. As one, he has repeatedly instructed fellow political scientists to care more about politics as the distinctively human realm than about narrow ‘methodological’ concerns that risk obscuring the reality and true stakes of human and political life. Mansfield has never been remotely tempted to identify the theoretical life with Epicurean disdain for the dignity and grandeur of the political vocation. At the same time, he is perfectly immune to the moralism that animates so many academics and intellectuals today.” (04/02/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/liberty-beyond-rational-control/
-----
43) Burnt Toast, Stoics, and Finding Growth in Small Frustrations
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“A viral mental habit about burnt toast echoes Stoic philosophy: adversity — no matter how small — is an opportunity to practice discipline, perspective, and self-mastery.” (04/02/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/burnt-toast-stoics-and-finding-growth-in-small-frustrations/
-----
44) Trump’s April Fools’ Address to the nation
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
“Expectations reached a fever pitch Wednesday, but he neither called for an end to the war nor announced a ground invasion. Bottom line: We’re not finished.” (04/01/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-address-iran/
-----
45) Shutdown ends with America doubting there was ever any point to it in the first place
Source: New York Post
by staff
“Not only are TSA agents getting paid, the whole absurd Homeland Security shutdown will soon end … with a whimper, wouldn’t you say? It leaves all sides in Washington a bit disgruntled and the public (especially those about to fly!) simply relieved. Senate and House GOP leaders John Thune and Mike Johnson announced Wednesday that they’d pass the bill to fund everything except some immigration-enforcement functions, then cover ICE and so on (which are fine for now thanks to special funding passed last year) in a reconciliation bill (which dodges the Senate filibuster) in a few weeks. Of course President Donald Trump took the key steps in ending the standoff, first by sending ICE agents to airports to help out and then by issuing an executive order to get TSA agents paid and so remove whatever cudgel Democrats thought they had to force ‘reforms’ to gut immigration enforcement.” (04/02/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/02/opinion/shutdown-ends-with-america-doubting-there-was-ever-any-point-to-it-in-the-first-place/
-----
46) Is it safe to use Signal?
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Adam Goldstein
“The encrypted messaging app Signal is back in the news — and this time, people are asking: Will using it get me arrested? The short answer is probably not. If your speech would be protected if you were talking to a friend at a park or over the phone, your speech will still be protected when you have that conversation on Signal. And if not, you’re not any more likely to get arrested by using Signal than you were before you started using it. In other words, if you’re doing something unlawful, adding Signal to the mix probably doesn’t appreciably increase the already existing risk of getting arrested for breaking the law.” (04/01/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/it-safe-use-signal
-----
47) The Circular Logic of Trump’s War with Iran
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“After neglecting the notification of and consultation with U.S. allies about his pending attack on Iran, Trump was then angered when they balked at helping the United States undertake the dangerous and expensive mission of using their warships to convoy oil tankers and other commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And because the Iranians have effectively thumbed their nose at Trump’s threats against Iran’s oil and civilian infrastructure (a war crime if carried out) if they didn’t open the strait, somebody is going to need to undertake opening and keeping open the strait. Yet, Trump has now said that the allies need to do so to take their oil, because much of the oil imported into the United States does not transit the Strait. That statement exhibits the president’s profound ignorance of the oil market.” (04/01/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/01/the-circular-logic-of-trumps-war-with-iran/
-----
48) Time to Tune Out Spyworld
Source: Racket News
by Matt Taibbi
“Americans don’t have a ton of experience with ‘totally aware’ society, but I’ve seen where it leads. In the Soviet Union everyone was conscious of being watched all the time, by the old lady sitting on the bench outside your apartment to taxi drivers and phone operators. It was dangerous to be quiet, spurring the organic appearance of a citizen type referred to as a Sovok. The Sovok never stopped talking. … At first it annoyed, then you realized constant displays of orthodox stupidity were a rational defense against political surveillance. A nation full of people saying dumb things round the clock is a natural consequence of mass monitoring. Which brings us to modern America.” (04/01/26)
https://www.racket.news/p/time-to-tune-out-spyworld
-----
49) More Than A Slogan: Labor’s New Gambit to Tax the Rich
Source: In These Times
by Rebecca Burns
“The threat of a city government shutdown loomed large in Chicago in December 2025 as the city faced an end-of-year deadline to close a projected $1.2 billion deficit. To counteract the impact of President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law, Mayor Brandon Johnson had pitched a budget in October that would require some of the law’s biggest beneficiaries to pay more. His proposed payroll tax — on corporations with more than 1,000 employees — would, according to his administration, amount to less than 0.01% of the Trump tax cuts bestowed on companies like Google and Walmart. But a standoff ensued after a group of Chicago City Council alderpersons — led by Nicole Lee, a former United Airlines executive — announced they would refuse to cross a ’red line’: a new tax on the city’s largest corporations, including United.” (03/31/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/slogan-inside-labors-new-strategy-tax-the-rich
-----
50) How China Went Capitalist
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Capitalist countries such as Japan were much more productive than China. To learn why, special economic zones were created, areas within which Hong Kong businessmen and other foreign investors would be permitted to start businesses. The plan was to use such zones to experiment with capitalist principles that might be useful to a socialist economy …. They were intended as a way of quarantining dangerous ideas to prevent them from infecting the greater society while at the same time extracting whatever in them was of value. Over the next thirty years the first, Shenzhen, expanded from a village of 30,000 inhabitants to a city of fourteen million, pulling in ambitious Chinese from all over the country. In 1984, the authorities responded to the success of the first four zones by authorizing fourteen more. Still more followed. The exception ate the rule.” (04/01/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/how-china-went-capitalist
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Fifth Column, episode 551
Source: The Fifth Column
“The Fifth Column marks ten years with a live, loose, alcohol-assisted celebration featuring Thor Halvorssen, Pete Meijer, Olivia Reingold, Nick Gillespie, and Nancy Rommelmann, with stops along the way for Venezuela, culture war absurdity, Jewish identity, sexual politics, old stories, new grievances, and the usual refusal to keep anything on the rails.” (04/02/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/ten-years-of-the-fifth-column
-----
52) Political Theater, 04/02/26
Source: Roll Call
“How much does the Homeland Security shutdown matter to the public?” (04/02/26)
https://chrt.fm/track/D3F8DG/traffic.megaphone.fm/FISCAL4524511184.mp3
-----
53) The Libertarian Angle, 04/02/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Tyranny of the TSA.” (04/02/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ab1JxcA60
-----
54) Radio Atlantic, 04/02/26
Source: The Atlantic
“The Manosphere Feels Betrayed.” (04/02/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/04/the-manosphere-feels-betrayed/686658/
-----
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/02/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Did You Watch Trump’s Speech? How Did He Do?” (04/02/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1jxXgeyobQyJZ
-----
56) Capital Record, episode 292
Source: National Review
“It Has to Be Real” (04/02/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/it-has-to-be-real/
-----
57) Rising, 04/02/26
Source: The Hill
“It’s over for NATO? Marco Rubio explains why U.S. is done!” ()4/02/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5803979-rising-april-2-2026/
-----
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 04/02/26
Source: Cato Institute
“The Great Political Realignment.” (04/02/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/great-political-realignment
-----
59) Underthrow Podcast, 04/02/26
Source: Underthrow
“The Freedom Lover’s Dilemma.” (04/02/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-freedom-lovers-dilemma
-----
60) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 04/02/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Spirals Into Rage as Brutal Poll Hits and Legal Losses Pile Up.” (04/02/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/208520/trump-spirals-rage-brutal-poll-hits-legal-losses-pile
-----
61) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 04/01/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Social media = cigarettes?” (04/01/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/podcasts/so-speak-free-speech-podcast/social-media-cigarettes
-----
62) The Science of Politics, 04/01/26
Source: Niskanen Center
“Can corporate scandals reinvigorate democracy?” (04/01/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/can-corporate-scandals-reinvigorate-democracy
-----
63) Nonzero, 04/01/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“MAGA Opposition to the Iran War | Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day.” (04/01/26)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/69393
-----
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2748
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“We Should Have Listened to Pat Buchanan.” (04/01/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2748-we-should-have-listened-to-pat-buchanan/
-----
65) SolutionsWatch, 04/01/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Libertas.Earth.” (04/01/26)
https://corbettreport.com/solutionswatch-libertas/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Iranian forces launch missiles at Israel and Gulf states as explosions hit Tehran
2) Trump throws Bondi under the bus
3) Ukraine war: Russian forces maintain day-long drone barrage of
4) Bitcoin Sell-Off Begins as Miners Sell Over 15,000 BTC in Q1 2026
5) DR Congo: At least 43 killed in ADF attack
6) Appeals court tosses sentence of Colorado elections clerk
7) VT: Labor Board Orders State to End Return-To-Office Requirement for Employees
8) Russia: Court sentences German artist in absentia for mocking Putin
9) US mortgage rates climb for fifth straight week
10) Trump regime prepares up to 100% pharmaceutical tariffs on American buyers of some imported drugs
11) Azerbaijan: Court Upholds Conviction of Political Prisoner, Lawyer Says
12) ICC moves ahead with disciplinary proceedings against chief prosecutor Khan
13) Refugee’s death after abduction, release by US immigration authorities ruled homicide
14) US jobless aid filings fall to 202,000 as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty of Iran war
15) Russia plans to send second oil tanker to Cuba
16) US regime lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s Rodriguez amid warming ties
17) Utah teen identified as victim of serial killer Ted Bundy
18) Danish warship sunk by Nelson’s British fleet discovered after 225 years
19) Mahmoud Khalil wants ex-Justice Department official off panel of judges weighing his appeal
20) Democrats sue Trump regime over attempt to rig elections by “executive order”
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) We must resist the rule of the technocrats
22) A Year After “Liberation Day,” Trump’s Tariffs Will Never Be Legitimate Without a Vote in Congress
23) The war for oil that backfired: Trump’s “energy dominance” illusion
24) Afroman Can’t Beat Qualified Immunity
25) Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown
26) The Empire Is Losing Its Ability To Hide Its Ugly Nature
27) UK government admits the obvious: Free countries shouldn’t police legal speech
28) Print Blocking is Anti-Consumer
29) Let’s Be Very Clear: Trump’s Iran War Is Making You Poorer
30) Regime Change
31) Sanity [sic] must be restored [sic] to birthright citizenship
32) Anarchists and Crime
33) Anti-Birthright Escalation a Cautionary Tale for the US
34) Who Gets to Block the Sun?
35) Seducing People When It Comes to War
36) Against Fairness?
37) Throw Iran to the Wolves
38) The Behemoth of Global Corruption Is an Extension of Ourselves
39) East Asia Foots the Bill For Washington’s Iran War
40) The FBI’s FOIA Blacklist
41) For Passover: Four Questions Trump’s Iran War Speech Didn’t Answer
42) Liberty Beyond “Rational Control”
43) Burnt Toast, Stoics, and Finding Growth in Small Frustrations
44) Trump’s April Fools’ Address to the nation
45) Shutdown ends with America doubting there was ever any point to it in the first place
46) Is it safe to use Signal?
47) The Circular Logic of Trump’s War with Iran
48) Time to Tune Out Spyworld
49) More Than A Slogan: Labor’s New Gambit to Tax the Rich
50) How China Went Capitalist
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Fifth Column, episode 551
52) Political Theater, 04/02/26
53) The Libertarian Angle, 04/02/26
54) Radio Atlantic, 04/02/26
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/02/26
56) Capital Record, episode 292
57) Rising, 04/02/26
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 04/02/26
59) Underthrow Podcast, 04/02/26
60) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 04/02/26
61) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 04/01/26
62) The Science of Politics, 04/01/26
63) Nonzero, 04/01/26
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2748
65) SolutionsWatch, 04/01/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Iranian forces launch missiles at Israel and Gulf states as explosions hit Tehran
Source: Rochester First
“Iran’s missiles set alight a refinery and damaged a desalination plant in Kuwait on Friday as Israeli and U.S. strikes kept hitting Iran. As the war that began Feb. 28 was to enter its sixth week, Israel, Bahrain and Kuwait warned about incoming missile fire, although it was unclear if anything was struck. Activists in Iran reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan.” (04/03/26)
https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/international/ap-the-latest-iran-launches-missiles-at-israel-and-gulf-states-as-explosions-heard-around-tehran/
-----
2) Trump throws Bondi under the bus
Source: Reuters
“U.S. President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post, a White House official said on Thursday, following mounting frustration with her performance, including her handling of investigative files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had also reportedly grown frustrated that Bondi was not moving quickly enough to prosecute critics and adversaries who he wanted to face criminal charges. In a social media post, Trump praised Bondi as ‘a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend’ and said she will move to a job in the private sector. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, will lead the Justice Department in the interim.” (04/02/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-fires-pam-bondi-us-attorney-general-cnn-fox-2026-04-02/
-----
3) Ukraine war: Russian forces maintain day-long drone barrage of
Source: AOL
“Russian forces maintained a day-long barrage of drone strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Thursday, injuring at least two people, local officials said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov posted reports on Telegram throughout the day and well into the evening, noting strikes in four city districts. One city official said there had been at least 20 impacts from drones. Further south, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said a Russian attack damaged a high-rise apartment building and a local business. No injuries were reported. Over the border in Russia’s Belgorod Region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 13 people were injured in a series of drone attacks, 11 of them in the village of Shebekino, just inside the border.” (04/02/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/russian-forces-maintain-day-long-220012118.html
-----
4) Bitcoin Sell-Off Begins as Miners Sell Over 15,000 BTC in Q1 2026
Source: TradingView
“After aggressively accumulating Bitcoin over the past two years, several public companies are now reversing course. With BTC hovering around $66K and prolonged price weakness weighing on balance sheets, firms, especially mining companies, are increasingly offloading holdings to stay liquid.” (04/03/26)
https://www.tradingview.com/news/coinpedia:2568b3efe094b:0-bitcoin-sell-off-begins-as-miners-sell-over-15-000-btc-in-q1-2026/
-----
5) DR Congo: At least 43 killed in ADF attack
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“At least 43 people have been killed in an attack by a rebel group linked to ISIL (ISIS) in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the army. Regional army spokesperson Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi Ngongo said on Thursday that at least ’43 compatriots were killed and 44 houses torched’ during the previous day’s attack in Bafwakoa, located in Mambasa territory, in the province of Ituri. Authorities blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group led by former Ugandan rebels that has sworn allegiance to ISIL.” (04/02/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/2/at-least-43-people-killed-in-adf-attack-in-northeast-dr-congo-army-says
-----
6) Appeals court tosses sentence of Colorado elections clerk
Source: United Press International
“A Colorado appeals court on Thursday threw out the sentence of Tina Peters, a former elections clerk, who was convicted in an election data case. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2024 on seven of the 10 counts for which she was charged. She allowed an unauthorized person to make copies of voting machine hard drives that included classified information. The data from those drives was then leaked online by conspiracy theorists who falsely said it proved President Donald Trump correct in his assertion that the 2020 election was ‘stolen.’ Trump later pardoned Peters, but Colorado officials said he has no power to do so because she was convicted by the state. … The judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that District Judge Matthew Barrett wrongfully used Peters’ beliefs and promotion of election fraud conspiracy theories in his sentencing.” (04/02/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/02/tina-peters-sentence-overturned/6531775153086/
-----
7) VT: Labor Board Orders State to End Return-To-Office Requirement for Employees
Source: US News & World Report
“The Vermont Labor Relations Board has ordered that Gov. Phil Scott’s administration ‘rescind’ a controversial requirement that state employees return to their physical offices three days per week. The board, a non-judicial body that makes decisions on the labor grievances of state employees, said in its decision Wednesday that the state has ‘refused to bargain in good faith and interfered with employees’ exercise of rights’ in requiring in-person work. Scott called the decision ‘disappointing, but not surprising’ in his weekly press conference Wednesday, and said the board’s membership is ‘weighted towards labor.'” (04/02/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/vermont/articles/2026-04-02/vermont-labor-board-orders-state-to-end-return-to-office-requirement-for-employees
-----
8) Russia: Court sentences German artist in absentia for mocking Putin
Source: ABC News
“A German artist who created carnival displays mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin was sentenced in absentia on Thursday to 8 1/2 years in prison by a court In Moscow. Jacques Tilly was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military and insulting religious feelings. Carnival parades in Germany are famed for their floats mocking a wide variety of domestic and global political figures, and Putin has frequently been a target. Tilly, 62, has been designing and building floats for Düsseldorf’s Carnival parade — one of Germany’s best-known — since 1984. In recent years, his designs have depicted Putin scrubbing himself in a bathtub filled with blood and painted in the colors of the Ukraine flag, while another featured a red-faced Putin biting into Ukraine, which was decorated with the words ‘Choke on it!'” (04/02/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/german-artist-sentenced-russian-court-carnival-display-mocking-131652317
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9) US mortgage rates climb for fifth straight week
Source: CNN
“Average US mortgage rates climbed again for the fifth week in a row, making homebuying more expensive than it was just a few weeks ago, before the outbreak of war with Iran. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.46% this week, jumping from 6.38% the previous week and reaching the highest level in seven months, according to Freddie Mac. The rise may be unwelcome news for those hoping to buy a home this spring, typically the busiest time of year for the housing market. During the last week of February, before the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 5.98%.” (04/02/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/economy/us-mortgage-rates-iran
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10) Trump regime prepares up to 100% pharmaceutical tariffs on American buyers of some imported drugs
Source: CNBC
“The Trump administration is preparing to impose new tariffs on [American buyers of] branded drugs from pharmaceutical companies that have not struck landmark deals with the president to lower their U.S. drug prices, CNBC has learned. [American buyers of] Patented medications and their active ingredients would be hit with a 100% tariff, according to a draft of the document obtained by CNBC. But there are pathways for drugmakers to reduce or avoid the levies [on American buyers] if they move their manufacturing to the U.S. or are negotiating deals with the administration. … The plan would represent another shift in Trump’s aggressive trade strategy, more than a month after the Supreme Court struck down the global levies he imposed in 2025, which excluded the pharmaceutical industry.” (04/02/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/trump-pharmaceutical-tariffs-100percent.html
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11) Azerbaijan: Court Upholds Conviction of Political Prisoner, Lawyer Says
Source: US News & World Reports
“The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on Thursday rejected an appeal by a prominent opposition politician who is serving a nine-year prison sentence, his lawyer told Reuters. Tofig Yagublu, 65, is a member of the opposition Musavat party and has been jailed numerous times over three decades for protesting against the government of the South Caucasus country. Yagublu was arrested in December 2023 and convicted in March last year of fraud and document forgery. His supporters say the case is politically motivated, while the authorities maintain he was rightly convicted of crimes.” (04/02/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-02/azerbaijan-upholds-conviction-of-opposition-politician-lawyer-says
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12) ICC moves ahead with disciplinary proceedings against chief prosecutor Khan
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“ICC member states have voted to pursue disciplinary proceedings against Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan after receiving reports regarding sexual assault allegations against him, according to a Wall Street Journal report. In a vote on Wednesday by a core group of member states, 15 voted in favour, two abstained and four voted against moving forward with the process, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Khan, who investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, has taken leave of absence pending an inquiry into accusations of non-consensual sexual interaction with a lawyer in his office. He rejects any allegations of wrongdoing.” (04/02/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/icc-moves-forward-case-against-chief-prosecutor-khan
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13) Refugee’s death after abduction, release by US immigration authorities ruled homicide
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The death in the US of ‘nearly blind’ refugee Nurul Amin Shah Alam, who was found outdoors in freezing temperatures days after his release from federal immigration custody, has been ruled a homicide in New York state. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office said Shah Alam’s death in the city of Buffalo was caused by ‘complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer, precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration.’ The designation of homicide may include negligent acts or omissions, the local officials said. It does not imply intent to cause harm or death, or indicate criminality. In response, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman told the BBC it was ‘another hoax being peddled by the media and sanctuary politicians to demonise our law enforcement.'” (04/02/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gx8l7w4jjo
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14) US jobless aid filings fall to 202,000 as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty of Iran war
Source: WTOP News
“U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week as layoffs remain sparse despite a softening labor market and rising energy costs due to the Iran war. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending March 28 fell by 9,000 to 202,000 from the previous week’s 211,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 212,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting and within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” (04/02/26)
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2026/04/us-jobless-aid-filings-fall-to-202000-as-layoffs-remain-low-despite-uncertainty-of-iran-war/
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15) Russia plans to send second oil tanker to Cuba
Source: SFGate
“Russia plans to send a second oil tanker to Cuba, the country’s energy minister said Thursday, citing the island’s ongoing energy blockade and reiterating Russia’s solidarity with the troubled Caribbean nation. The announcement comes just two days after sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin docked at the Cuban port of Matanzas laden with 730,000 barrels of oil, marking the first time in three months that an oil tanker reached the island. Experts have said that shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.” (04/02/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/moscow-plans-to-send-2nd-oil-tanker-to-cuba-22185631.php
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16) US regime lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s Rodriguez amid warming ties
Source: United Press International
“The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s interim president [sic], Delcy Rodriguez, in the latest sign of warming relations between Washington and Caracas after the U.S. military ousted Venezuela’s former authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced in a post on its website Wednesday that Rodriguez, 56, had been removed from its Specially Designated Nationals list, unfreezing any assets that may have been under her name in the United States while allowing her to conduct business in the United States and with U.S. persons.” [editor’s note: The administration of which Rodriguez was a member was defeated in last year’s election; legally, she holds no position in Venezuela’s regime – TLK] (04/02/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/02/Delcy-Rodriguez-sanctions/4721775114744/
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17) Utah teen identified as victim of serial killer Ted Bundy
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Officials in Utah have formally closed a 51-year-old cold case after using new DNA technology to identify a murdered teenager as a victim of serial killer Ted Bundy. Laura Ann Aime, 17, disappeared after leaving a party on Halloween in 1974. Her body was discovered about one month later by hikers in the American Fork Canyon. On Wednesday, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office announced that new testing ‘confirmed irrefutably that DNA evidence recovered from Laura’s body verified the existence of DNA belonging to Bundy.’ … Before he was executed in Florida in 1989, Bundy confessed to Laura’s killing, but since he would not elaborate or give any detail to his actual involvement in her death, ‘the Sheriff’s Department elected to keep this case open until investigators could prove, without a shadow of doubt,’ that he was her killer, the sheriff said in a statement.” (04/02/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lendp6390o
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18) Danish warship sunk by Nelson’s British fleet discovered after 225 years
Source: Seattle Times
“More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm. Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor by marine archaeologists. Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 meters (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers are in a race against time to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast. Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the monthslong underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/yKmmg
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19) Mahmoud Khalil wants ex-Justice Department official off panel of judges weighing his appeal
Source: SFGate
“Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student fighting deportation, have asked Judge Emil Bove to step aside from an appellate panel that could weigh in on his case because of Bove’s previous role as a top Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters. Khalil’s lawyers this week asked that the full complement of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals — minus Bove — review and reverse a January ruling by a panel of three 3rd Circuit judges that put the Trump administration one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the pro-Palestinian activist. As the Justice Department’s Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, Bove ‘directed immigration enforcement investigations and decisions against student protesters on college campuses,’ including at Columbia, Khalil’s lawyers wrote. Bove’s immigration enforcement work ‘demonstrates the existence, or at least the appearance of, a conflict of interest’ that should disqualify him from having a say in Khalil’s appeal, they said.” (04/02/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/activist-mahmoud-khalil-wants-ex-justice-22185776.php
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20) Democrats sue Trump regime over attempt to rig elections by “executive order”
Source: Politico
“Democratic Party leaders filed suit Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit voting by mail ahead of the midterm elections. Democrats argue that an executive order Trump signed at the White House on Tuesday, which creates an approved list of absentee voters among other actions, is an unconstitutional interference in the power of states to regulate elections. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association in suing to challenge the order. ‘President Trump possesses no such authority to order such a sweeping change to American elections,’ the suit argues.” (04/01/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/01/democrats-sue-trump-administration-mail-in-voting-00855093
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) We must resist the rule of the technocrats
Source: spiked
by Paul O’Connor
“From public-health policy to climate change, more and more issues are being removed from public control and handed to ostensibly neutral specialists. Though they may maintain a façade of democratic procedure, today’s Western societies are largely governed by an alliance between expert knowledge and managerial power. They would be more accurately described by the term ‘technocracy.’ Cast your mind back to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was not an aberration, but a revelation. … We might, understandably, be inclined to regard the Covid lockdowns as a bad memory – something best forgotten. But that would be a mistake. The state overreach, censorship, obsession with risk and distrust in people’s ability to make their own decisions were not exceptions to the norm, but the new norm.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/EHU96
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22) A Year After “Liberation Day,” Trump’s Tariffs Will Never Be Legitimate Without a Vote in Congress
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm
“There is no doubt that Congress has traded away a lot of its authority over trade policy in the past few decades. But, as the Trump administration is now learning, those policies do not allow for the open-ended, anything-goes approach that Trump wants to take. The IEEPA tariffs were tripped up by the plain text of the underlying law, which courts at all levels agreed did not include the power to tariff. The new Section 122 tariffs face a similar legal challenge over the administration’s attempt to read broad powers into a narrowly tailored law. There is an easy solution to all this. Put a tariff bill in front of Congress. Of course, there is an equally obvious reason why Trump has refused to do that. It would be unlikely to pass.” [editor’s note: And even if it did pass, taxation would still be theft – TLK] (04/02/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/02/a-year-after-liberation-day-trumps-tariffs-will-never-be-legitimate-without-a-vote-in-congress/
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23) The war for oil that backfired: Trump’s “energy dominance” illusion
Source: The Hill
by Brahma Chellaney
“When President Trump launched his war on Iran, attention fixed on missiles, drones and the risks of escalation. The real story lay elsewhere: a grandiose and ultimately reckless vision of American ‘energy dominance’ that helped propel Washington into war. This was not simply a security decision, but an economic and ideological gamble rooted in Trump’s long-held belief that U.S. control over international energy flows would translate into global geopolitical supremacy and arrest America’s relative decline. In his second term, that belief hardened into doctrine. But in Iran, it collided with reality.” (04/02/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5810758-the-war-for-oil-that-backfired/
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24) Afroman Can’t Beat Qualified Immunity
Source: Downsize DC
by Jim Babka
“Afroman can’t beat qualified immunity, and neither can you. But wait, didn’t he win his case? That’s what all the headlines are saying. Yes. He overcame his defamation case. It’s a great victory for free speech. But before that case ever went to trial, he lost a fight that few are talking about. … He wanted the deputies held accountable for the damage they did to his home: the broken door, the smashed gate, the detached cameras, and the $400 in cash that went ‘missing’ during the raid. The judge dismissed his claims. No jury. No hearing. Just gone. Think about that. The deputies got a full jury trial over hurt feelings from a music video. But … Afroman couldn’t get a hearing over a broken door and ‘missing’ money.” (04/02/26)
https://downsizedc.org/afroman-qualified-immunity/
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25) Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown
Source: Wired
by Ali Winston & Maddy Varner
“A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/CFOgS
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26) The Empire Is Losing Its Ability To Hide Its Ugly Nature
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“It used to be hard to help westerners see the depravity of the US empire. Now it’s just right in everyone’s face with raw genocide footage and insanely evil warmongering of direct economic consequence. It took a lot of work to help the average westerner understand that NATO aggressions actively provoked the war in Ukraine, or that western interventionism played a major role in the violence and chaos in Syria, or that US economic warfare was largely responsible for the suffering of Cubans and Venezuelans. The murderous savagery of the empire was hidden behind layers of obfuscation, allowing the propagandists to frame the western power structure as a passive witness to the abuses of foreign regimes. Now the propagandists have very little to work with, so those obfuscations can no longer take place.” (04/02/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/02/the-empire-is-losing-its-ability-to-hide-its-ugly-nature/
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27) UK government admits the obvious: Free countries shouldn’t police legal speech
Source: Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“With an act designated as ‘non-crime,’ you might reasonably expect the role for law enforcement to be quite limited. No crime means no cops … right? For years, though, the United Kingdom has allowed a system of police intervention and record-keeping over ‘non-crime hate incidents’ — including legal speech — to flourish. But new Home Office guidance intends to ‘prevent police from recording lawful free speech.’ Will this signal a new step forward for the UK? It’s complicated.” (04/02/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/uk-government-admits-the-obvious
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28) Print Blocking is Anti-Consumer
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Rory Mir
“[3D printers] come in many forms and can construct nearly any shape with a variety of materials. This has made them absolutely crucial for anything from life-saving medical equipment, to little Iron Man helmets for cats, to everyday repairs. … Unfortunately some state legislators are looking to repeat old mistakes by demanding printer vendors install an enshittification switch. In the U.S, three states have recently proposed that commercial 3D-printer manufacturers must ensure their printers only work with their software, and are responsible for checking each print for forbidden shapes — for now, any shape vendors consider too gun-like.” (04/02/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/print-blocking-anti-consumer-permission-print-part-1
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29) Let’s Be Very Clear: Trump’s Iran War Is Making You Poorer
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“Our Secretary of Defense (or War) Pete Hegseth seems to be having a really great time killing people in Iran, but his live action video games come at a big cost, not just in lives, but in budget dollars. To be clear, the main reason to be opposed to this pointless war is its impact on the people of Iran and elsewhere in the region. But it also has a huge economic cost that is seriously underappreciated. The short-term cost is the shortage of oil, natural gas, fertilizers, and other items that would ordinarily travel through the Straits of Hormuz. This shortage has already sent prices of many items soaring. The impact is not just on the goods themselves, but there is a large secondary impact due to higher shipping costs, and if fertilizer supplies are not resumed soon, higher food prices, due to lower crop yields.” (04/02/26)
https://cepr.net/publications/lesson-from-the-iran-war-42765-making-enemies-makes-us-poorer/
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30) Regime Change
Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Price
“The petrodollar, per Grok, refers to U.S. dollars earned by oil-exporting countries (primarily OPEC members, plus others like Russia and Norway) from crude oil exports. It is not a separate currency but simply dollars received in payment for oil. The term also describes the broader petrodollar system: the longstanding global practice of pricing and trading most international oil in U.S. dollars, which creates sustained worldwide demand for the dollar. … The decision by the West to freeze Russia’s foreign reserves (including US dollars and US Treasury bonds) was the first nail in the coffin for the dollar, obliging sovereign countries to favour stateless assets such as gold. The decision by the US to join Israel in military adventuring against Iran will likely prove the first nail in the coffin for the petrodollar (and similarly boost prospects for the likes of gold over the medium term).” (04/02/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/04/regime-change/
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31) Sanity [sic] must be restored [sic] to birthright citizenship
Source: Fox News
by Mike Davis
“At the core of our sovereignty is the right to determine who is entitled to citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship to people born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a case concerning the lawfulness of President Trump’s commonsense executive order that restores the original understanding of birthright citizenship.” [editor’s note: Even before the 14th Amendment, the US practiced birthright citizenship from its founding, as did it its parent country. “Born here, citizen here” IS the original understanding – TLK] (04/02/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-davis-sanity-must-restored-birthright-citizenship
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32) Anarchists and Crime
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Katrina Gulliver
“The anarchist ‘movement’ (if we could apply such a concept to a decentralized group) was the beginning of modern global terrorism. The idea that killing, bombing, were a tactic to bring adversaries to the negotiating table, in the age of mass media, was a novel concept, in the late nineteenth century. It would be a model followed by various political sects to come. But anarchists did not want negotiations.” (04/02/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/anarchists-and-crime-403
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33) Anti-Birthright Escalation a Cautionary Tale for the US
Source: Common Dreams
by Jordan Liz
“On April 1, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s executive order to ban birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. Every lower court that has ruled on this issue thus far has found this executive order to be straightforwardly unconstitutional — and they are correct. The 14th Amendment is clear: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.'” (04/02/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dr-birthright-us
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34) Who Gets to Block the Sun?
Source: The Atlantic
by Alexander C Kaufman
“The world’s first major private geoengineering start-up must have known it’d have skeptics. The basic premise — dimming the sun to artificially cool the planet — has been called reckless by scientists and climate advocates; military analysts have said it has real security risks. (Don’t even get conspiracy theorists started.) Still, Stardust Solutions, an American-Israeli company planning to build a solar-reflecting system in the next few years, has enough fans that it raised $60 million in 2025. Now it’s trying to bring around the public and ease concerns over a technology for which its founders would prefer there wasn’t any conceivable global need.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/wRr6c
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35) Seducing People When It Comes to War
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“In a non-elected dictatorship, the dictator doesn’t need to secure anyone’s consent to initiate a war. He simply initiates it on his own by ordering his military to attack another country. It’s possible, of course, to have a dictatorship within a democratic form of government. Dictatorship depends on the extent of power wielded by the ruler, not by how he got to be ruler. Thus, a democratically elected ruler can end up wielding and exercising the same types of omnipotent, totalitarian powers as an unelected dictator who has simply taken power by force. In a democracy, however, a ruler must seduce the citizenry into supporting the war, especially since war inevitably involves the destruction of people’s own freedom at the hands of their own government.” (04/02/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/04/02/seducing-people-when-it-comes-to-war/
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36) Against Fairness?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Nah, it’s just Democrats who think that, because I won’t vote for their proposed constitutional amendment allowing the legislature to redraw my state’s congressional districts. The official question on the April 21 ballot reads: ‘Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?’ What, exactly, is ‘fair’ about this amendment?” (04/02/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/02/against-fairness/
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37) Throw Iran to the Wolves
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“First off, I’m writing this before President Donald Trump speaks to the nation tonight, where I expect him to declare victory and announce something about when we’ll be done in Iran. Good. That doesn’t change my opinion about what comes next, so the submission deadline does not negate what follows. The Iranian regime wants to die; help them with that. Whatever shell of a government is left is launching rockets randomly at its neighbors, which indicates they’d rather fight until they’re dead than reconstitute itself into something that isn’t threatening to the rest of the world, so we should facilitate that end. How do we do that? Well, we’ve weakened them to the point that the people of Iran could rise and rip them apart – pull a Mussolini and string up their oppressors.” (04/02/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/04/02/throw-iran-to-the-wolves-n2673811
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38) The Behemoth of Global Corruption Is an Extension of Ourselves
Source: Brownstone Institute
by David Bell
“Hard times. Emerging from an apparently engineered pandemic, now in another war for ephemeral reasons, a resultant economic crisis that is exacerbating unmanageable debt, we find ethnic cleansing and inter-ethnic hatred are increasingly back in vogue. It’s easy to imagine a nefarious program is being orchestrated by a nasty and entrenched elite, aiming to plunder and enslave the rest of us. Such an idea is clearly not baseless, but nonetheless completely misleading in the solutions it suggests. ‘If only we could jail them, or have a Nuremberg Two, things would be better …’ However, Nuremberg One did not stop ethnic cleansing, targeting of religious groups, wars and mass death based on straight-out lies, or mass medical coercion for power and money. A couple of obvious reasons stand out for this.” (04/02/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-behemoth-of-global-corruption-is-an-extension-of-ourselves/
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39) East Asia Foots the Bill For Washington’s Iran War
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“As the United States and Israel press their war of aggression against Iran — now entering its second month — attention has understandably focused on the carnage in the Middle East. Yet with the Strait of Hormuz effectively blockaded and global energy markets in turmoil, the conflict’s ripples extend far beyond the Persian Gulf. In East Asia, America’s closest treaty allies, Japan and South Korea, are absorbing punishing economic shocks from their dependence on Middle Eastern oil, while Washington’s diversion of military assets has left them feeling exposed and annoyed. Meanwhile, Beijing, Washington’s bete noire, looks on with barely concealed satisfaction, its state media churning out satirical videos that mock yet another American entanglement in the region’s endless conflicts. For those who have long warned that empire abroad undermines security and prosperity at home, the spectacle offers a textbook case of the predictable, if unintended, costs of interventionism.” (04/02/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/east-asia-foots-the-bill-for-washingtons-iran-war
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40) The FBI’s FOIA Blacklist
Source: Antiwar.com
by Patrick Eddington
“The Freedom of Information Act was designed to empower citizens to hold their government accountable. But evidence suggests the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has quietly adopted a practice that turns that principle on its head: labeling some of the people who file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests as ‘vexsome.’ In effect, the agency has created a FOIA-specific blacklist. Yet when asked, it denies having done so.” (04/02/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/patrick_eddington/2026/04/01/the-fbis-foia-blacklist
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41) For Passover: Four Questions Trump’s Iran War Speech Didn’t Answer
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“As America is no stranger to war, it’s also no stranger to presidential addresses that justify and report on the wars then ongoing. No matter whether we’re winning or losing, first-strikers or get-struck-firsters, advancing or just holding the line, every previous wartime president has managed to stay on topic. But not Donald Trump. His Wednesday night speech was notable only in that he repeatedly strayed off topic. … Even granting that the topic of every Trump speech is Trump, that theme plays least well in an address supposedly intended to convince his fellow citizens that the course on which he’s set the nation is worth the sacrifices of combat and the travails (in this case, economic) of the home front.” (04/02/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/02/for-passover-4-questions-trumps-iran-war-speech-didnt-answer/
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42) Liberty Beyond “Rational Control”
Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney
“[Harvey] Mansfield is a political scientist as much as a political philosopher, an Aristotelian who never disparages moral virtue, political nobility, or patriotic attachment to a decent and free political order such as the United States. As one, he has repeatedly instructed fellow political scientists to care more about politics as the distinctively human realm than about narrow ‘methodological’ concerns that risk obscuring the reality and true stakes of human and political life. Mansfield has never been remotely tempted to identify the theoretical life with Epicurean disdain for the dignity and grandeur of the political vocation. At the same time, he is perfectly immune to the moralism that animates so many academics and intellectuals today.” (04/02/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/liberty-beyond-rational-control/
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43) Burnt Toast, Stoics, and Finding Growth in Small Frustrations
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“A viral mental habit about burnt toast echoes Stoic philosophy: adversity — no matter how small — is an opportunity to practice discipline, perspective, and self-mastery.” (04/02/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/burnt-toast-stoics-and-finding-growth-in-small-frustrations/
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44) Trump’s April Fools’ Address to the nation
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
“Expectations reached a fever pitch Wednesday, but he neither called for an end to the war nor announced a ground invasion. Bottom line: We’re not finished.” (04/01/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-address-iran/
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45) Shutdown ends with America doubting there was ever any point to it in the first place
Source: New York Post
by staff
“Not only are TSA agents getting paid, the whole absurd Homeland Security shutdown will soon end … with a whimper, wouldn’t you say? It leaves all sides in Washington a bit disgruntled and the public (especially those about to fly!) simply relieved. Senate and House GOP leaders John Thune and Mike Johnson announced Wednesday that they’d pass the bill to fund everything except some immigration-enforcement functions, then cover ICE and so on (which are fine for now thanks to special funding passed last year) in a reconciliation bill (which dodges the Senate filibuster) in a few weeks. Of course President Donald Trump took the key steps in ending the standoff, first by sending ICE agents to airports to help out and then by issuing an executive order to get TSA agents paid and so remove whatever cudgel Democrats thought they had to force ‘reforms’ to gut immigration enforcement.” (04/02/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/02/opinion/shutdown-ends-with-america-doubting-there-was-ever-any-point-to-it-in-the-first-place/
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46) Is it safe to use Signal?
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Adam Goldstein
“The encrypted messaging app Signal is back in the news — and this time, people are asking: Will using it get me arrested? The short answer is probably not. If your speech would be protected if you were talking to a friend at a park or over the phone, your speech will still be protected when you have that conversation on Signal. And if not, you’re not any more likely to get arrested by using Signal than you were before you started using it. In other words, if you’re doing something unlawful, adding Signal to the mix probably doesn’t appreciably increase the already existing risk of getting arrested for breaking the law.” (04/01/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/it-safe-use-signal
-----
47) The Circular Logic of Trump’s War with Iran
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“After neglecting the notification of and consultation with U.S. allies about his pending attack on Iran, Trump was then angered when they balked at helping the United States undertake the dangerous and expensive mission of using their warships to convoy oil tankers and other commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And because the Iranians have effectively thumbed their nose at Trump’s threats against Iran’s oil and civilian infrastructure (a war crime if carried out) if they didn’t open the strait, somebody is going to need to undertake opening and keeping open the strait. Yet, Trump has now said that the allies need to do so to take their oil, because much of the oil imported into the United States does not transit the Strait. That statement exhibits the president’s profound ignorance of the oil market.” (04/01/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/01/the-circular-logic-of-trumps-war-with-iran/
-----
48) Time to Tune Out Spyworld
Source: Racket News
by Matt Taibbi
“Americans don’t have a ton of experience with ‘totally aware’ society, but I’ve seen where it leads. In the Soviet Union everyone was conscious of being watched all the time, by the old lady sitting on the bench outside your apartment to taxi drivers and phone operators. It was dangerous to be quiet, spurring the organic appearance of a citizen type referred to as a Sovok. The Sovok never stopped talking. … At first it annoyed, then you realized constant displays of orthodox stupidity were a rational defense against political surveillance. A nation full of people saying dumb things round the clock is a natural consequence of mass monitoring. Which brings us to modern America.” (04/01/26)
https://www.racket.news/p/time-to-tune-out-spyworld
-----
49) More Than A Slogan: Labor’s New Gambit to Tax the Rich
Source: In These Times
by Rebecca Burns
“The threat of a city government shutdown loomed large in Chicago in December 2025 as the city faced an end-of-year deadline to close a projected $1.2 billion deficit. To counteract the impact of President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law, Mayor Brandon Johnson had pitched a budget in October that would require some of the law’s biggest beneficiaries to pay more. His proposed payroll tax — on corporations with more than 1,000 employees — would, according to his administration, amount to less than 0.01% of the Trump tax cuts bestowed on companies like Google and Walmart. But a standoff ensued after a group of Chicago City Council alderpersons — led by Nicole Lee, a former United Airlines executive — announced they would refuse to cross a ’red line’: a new tax on the city’s largest corporations, including United.” (03/31/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/slogan-inside-labors-new-strategy-tax-the-rich
-----
50) How China Went Capitalist
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Capitalist countries such as Japan were much more productive than China. To learn why, special economic zones were created, areas within which Hong Kong businessmen and other foreign investors would be permitted to start businesses. The plan was to use such zones to experiment with capitalist principles that might be useful to a socialist economy …. They were intended as a way of quarantining dangerous ideas to prevent them from infecting the greater society while at the same time extracting whatever in them was of value. Over the next thirty years the first, Shenzhen, expanded from a village of 30,000 inhabitants to a city of fourteen million, pulling in ambitious Chinese from all over the country. In 1984, the authorities responded to the success of the first four zones by authorizing fourteen more. Still more followed. The exception ate the rule.” (04/01/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/how-china-went-capitalist
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Fifth Column, episode 551
Source: The Fifth Column
“The Fifth Column marks ten years with a live, loose, alcohol-assisted celebration featuring Thor Halvorssen, Pete Meijer, Olivia Reingold, Nick Gillespie, and Nancy Rommelmann, with stops along the way for Venezuela, culture war absurdity, Jewish identity, sexual politics, old stories, new grievances, and the usual refusal to keep anything on the rails.” (04/02/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/ten-years-of-the-fifth-column
-----
52) Political Theater, 04/02/26
Source: Roll Call
“How much does the Homeland Security shutdown matter to the public?” (04/02/26)
https://chrt.fm/track/D3F8DG/traffic.megaphone.fm/FISCAL4524511184.mp3
-----
53) The Libertarian Angle, 04/02/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Tyranny of the TSA.” (04/02/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ab1JxcA60
-----
54) Radio Atlantic, 04/02/26
Source: The Atlantic
“The Manosphere Feels Betrayed.” (04/02/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/04/the-manosphere-feels-betrayed/686658/
-----
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/02/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Did You Watch Trump’s Speech? How Did He Do?” (04/02/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1jxXgeyobQyJZ
-----
56) Capital Record, episode 292
Source: National Review
“It Has to Be Real” (04/02/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/it-has-to-be-real/
-----
57) Rising, 04/02/26
Source: The Hill
“It’s over for NATO? Marco Rubio explains why U.S. is done!” ()4/02/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5803979-rising-april-2-2026/
-----
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 04/02/26
Source: Cato Institute
“The Great Political Realignment.” (04/02/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/great-political-realignment
-----
59) Underthrow Podcast, 04/02/26
Source: Underthrow
“The Freedom Lover’s Dilemma.” (04/02/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-freedom-lovers-dilemma
-----
60) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 04/02/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Spirals Into Rage as Brutal Poll Hits and Legal Losses Pile Up.” (04/02/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/208520/trump-spirals-rage-brutal-poll-hits-legal-losses-pile
-----
61) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 04/01/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Social media = cigarettes?” (04/01/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/podcasts/so-speak-free-speech-podcast/social-media-cigarettes
-----
62) The Science of Politics, 04/01/26
Source: Niskanen Center
“Can corporate scandals reinvigorate democracy?” (04/01/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/can-corporate-scandals-reinvigorate-democracy
-----
63) Nonzero, 04/01/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“MAGA Opposition to the Iran War | Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day.” (04/01/26)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/69393
-----
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2748
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“We Should Have Listened to Pat Buchanan.” (04/01/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2748-we-should-have-listened-to-pat-buchanan/
-----
65) SolutionsWatch, 04/01/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Libertas.Earth.” (04/01/26)
https://corbettreport.com/solutionswatch-libertas/
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