12/22 -- Update: Will No One Rid Me Of This Turbulent Year-End Fundraiser?; Russia: General killed by bomb under his car in Moscow; Peace President? Yeah, Right.
6 views
Skip to first unread message
Thomas L. Knapp
Dec 22, 2025, 6:23:57 AM (10 days ago) Dec 22
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, Weekend Special Edition, 12/20/25
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Freedom News:
0) Update: Will No One Rid Me Of This Turbulent Year-End Fundraiser?
1) Russia: General killed by bomb under his car in Moscow
2) US-based pirates pursuing third oil tanker near Venezuela, officials say
3) Two lawmakers seek to find Bondi in contempt over Epstein files cover-up
4) Palestine: Israeli regime approves 19 new illegal squats in occupied West Bank
5) WV: Cop who murdered 12-year-old fired from ranger position
6) Mangione’s lawyers renew bid to toss death penalty, alleging Bondi has conflict of interest
7) Pope Leo summons world’s cardinals for a key assembly to help him govern the church
8) Saudi Arabia quietly expands access to its only alcohol store for non-Muslim residents
9) SCOTUS rebuffs Trump in immigration judges’ free-speech case
10) Four ICE gang abductee deaths in four days spark alarm as abductions continue
11) FL: Woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day
12) Pakistan: Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case
13) MN: Vikings’ team plane forced to turn around with mechanical issue during travel to Giants game
14) Musk wins appeal that restores 2018 Tesla pay deal now worth about $139 billion
15) Iraq’s political future in limbo as factions vie for power
16) Australia: Regime plans tougher flag censorship laws because flags kill people … oh, wait
17) TX: Two riders trapped more than 100 feet in air after roller coaster malfunctions
18) NY: Stefanik drops out of governor’s race, won’t seek reelection to Congress
19) CA: Waymo temporarily suspends service in San Francisco amid power outage
20) France: Court rejects regime’s request to suspend Shein
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Peace President? Yeah, Right.
22) Not What He Seems
23) At the Movies, But for How Long?
24) The Infinite Reopening of History
25) The real reason to commemorate Hanukkah
26) A Possible Strategy for Stopping War on Venezuela
27) Immigrants didn’t cause America’s trucking crisis — Washington did
28) The Fundamental Pivot of Humanity
29) For Ukraine and Taiwan, dissuasion in strength
30) A War No American Needs: Confrontation with Venezuela Brings Neither Security nor Benefit
31) Brace for (and blame Congress for) another looming government shutdown
32) Online Gaming’s Final Boss: The Copyright Bully
33) If Israel Gets To Undermine Our Rights, Then We Get To Undermine Israel
34) Protecting a Societal Cancer with a Web of Lies
35) Notes on Anarcho-Capitalism
36) How Productivity Advances
37) Like the Iraq War, but Worse
38) Why Trump’s blue slip blues aren’t Grassley’s fault
39) Palestine: Israeli Forces Murder Six at Wedding Celebration
40) Military contractors reap big profits in war-to-homeland pipeline
41) Epstein and the Clintons: As Hillary Launched Presidential Campaign, Epstein Feared Exposure
42) How The New Yorker Became Irrelevant
43) Why Trump’s “peace deals” keep unraveling
44) Unchecked Waters: The Constitutional Crisis of Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
45) Netflix’s Ownership of Warner Bros. Would Change Filmmaking Incentives
46) Stop Fixating on CEO Pay Ratios and Start Fixing Labor Markets
47) Medicaid’s Wake-Up Call
48) Against Against Boomers
49) Time For the GOP to Grow A Pair On Health Care
50) The Trials Of An Unpopular Populist
51) Remembering Rob Reiner’s Masterpiece
52) Capability-based budgeting: A practical roadmap for getting started
53) How the Charter School Industry’s Newest Scheme Could Be “the Death of Public Schools”
54) Jeffries Undercuts Congressional Stock Trading Ban
55) Ukrainian Security Guarantees Are Dangerous and Counterproductive
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
56) Reason Interview: Keonne Rodriguez
57) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 12/19/25
58) In The Tank Podcast, episode 522
59) Rising, 12/19/25
60) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/19/25
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/19/25
62) The Intercept Briefing, 12/19/25
63) Conflicts of Interest, episode 860
64) Bulwark Takes, 12/19/25
65) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2719
vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv
TRY STARLINK: YOU GET A FREE MONTH AND SO DO WE!
https://starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-DF-8980236-19330-50
THE CONSTITUTION OF NON-STATE GOVERNMENT: FIELD GUIDE TO TEXAS SECESSION, by TL Hulsey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
https://tinyurl.com/actofselfdefense
ONE IDENTITY FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO
https://fioprotocol.io/
SAMUEL EDWARD KONKIN III REVOLUTIONARY FRIEND BY WENDY MCELROY
https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Edward-Konkin-Revolutionary-Friend-ebook/dp/B0DP7B6127
^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^
_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Update: Will No One Rid Me Of This Turbulent Year-End Fundraiser?
Hey, everyone:
One of our long-time supporters, RB, sends this note:
"I'm not senile. I remember I already did this once, but I know it's moving slow this year. Appreciate what you do. Good luck."
What RB already did once this year, and did again over the weekend, was send us a $100 donation, bringing our year-end fundraiser total to $2,208.84. THANK YOU, RB!
Where are those of you who read the freedom movement's newspaper every day, but have never financially supported it?
We're $541.66 short. Once we reach $2,750.50 -- but NOT UNTIL we do -- supporter GL will "match funds" for the other half, getting us to our goal of $5,501.
Please help:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
-----
1) Russia: General killed by bomb under his car in Moscow
Source: NBC News
“A Russian general was killed Monday after a bomb exploded under his car in Moscow, officials said. Russian investigators said they were looking into whether Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was assassinated by Ukrainian intelligence services. NBC News has asked the Ukrainian government for a response. Sarvarov, 56, was head of the operational training directorate of Russia’s armed forces general staff. … If confirmed, it would not be the first time Ukraine has carried out the assassination of a top general deep inside Russia. In April, it claimed responsibility for killing Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik in a car bomb near the Russian capital. And in December 2024, it said it was behind the death of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s chemical, radiological and biological weapons unit.” (12/22/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/russian-general-sarvarov-killed-moscow-car-bomb-ukraine-war-rcna250434
-----
2) US-based pirates pursuing third oil tanker near Venezuela, officials say
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful. ‘The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,’ a U.S. official said. ‘It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.’ … British maritime risk management group Vanguard, along with a U.S. maritime security source, identified the vessel as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier that was added last year to the sanctions list of the U.S. Treasury Department, which said the vessel has links to Iran.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/XzeUB
-----
3) Two lawmakers seek to find Bondi in contempt over Epstein files cover-up
Source: Washington Post
“Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) said Sunday that they will seek to find Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress for not releasing more documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. … Khanna and Massie wrote legislation that passed Congress nearly unanimously and was signed by President Donald Trump last month requiring the Justice Department to release a trove of Epstein files in its possession within 30 days. … Khanna said in an interview with The Washington Post that he and Massie were pursuing contempt findings because the measure would take effect when it got through the House and would not need to go through the Senate. He said they were likely to give Bondi a 30-day grace period and then start fining her daily until she released all the records.” (12/21/25)
https://archive.is/HaYMm
-----
4) Palestine: Israeli regime approves 19 new illegal squats in occupied West Bank
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Israel’s security cabinet has approved the recognition of 19 new [squats] in the occupied West Bank as the government continues its settlement expansion push. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who proposed the move alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, said the decision was about blocking the [geographic coherence of the] Palestinian state. Israeli [squats] in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law. … Since taking office in 2022, the current Israeli government has significantly increased the approval of new [squats]s and begun the legalisation [sic] process for unauthorised outposts, recognising them as ‘neighbourhoods’ of existing settlements.” (12/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjg18xe0wwo
-----
5) WV: Cop who murdered 12-year-old fired from ranger position
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The former Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 was fired from his post as a ranger at a West Virginia resort community, the fourth known time in seven years that he left a small department following public backlash. Timothy Loehmann was fired on Friday from his position at the Snowshoe Resort Community District (SRCD). The district’s board announced Loehmann’s firing in a statement following their emergency meeting. A Cleveland-based attorney for Rice’s family, Subodh Chandra, said that ‘Loehmann’s determination to inflict himself on other people seems pathological. So does the craven poor judgment required by any public officials who hire him.'” (12/21/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/21/officer-fired-tamir-rice-shooting
-----
6) Mangione’s lawyers renew bid to toss death penalty, alleging Bondi has conflict of interest
Source: Fox News
“Lawyers for Luigi Mangione on Friday renewed and expanded their effort to have the death penalty thrown out in his case, arguing Attorney General Pam Bondi has a disqualifying financial conflict of interest. In court filings reviewed by Fox News Digital, the defense argued that Bondi’s calls for the death penalty following Mangione’s arrest were improper because she was previously a partner at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm that represented UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of slain CEO Brian Thompson. The defense argues Bondi continues to receive financial benefits through Ballard’s profit-sharing plan and should have recused herself from any role in the case. … Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring even before Mangione was formally indicted that capital punishment was warranted for what she called a ‘premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.'” (12/20/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/luigi-mangione-lawyers-renew-bid-toss-death-penalty-charge-alleging-pam-bondi-conflict-interest
-----
7) Pope Leo summons world’s cardinals for a key assembly to help him govern the church
Source: ABC News
“Pope Leo XIV has summoned the world’s cardinals for two days of meetings to help him govern the church, the Vatican said Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that the new year will signal the unofficial start of his pontificate. The consistory, as such gatherings are called, will be held Jan. 7-8, immediately following the Jan. 6 conclusion of the 2025 Holy Year, a once-every-quarter century celebration of Christianity. Leo’s first few months as pope have been dominated by fulfilling the weekly Holy Year obligations of meeting with pilgrimage groups and celebrating special Jubilee audiences and Masses. Additionally, much of his time has been spent wrapping up the outstanding matters of Pope Francis'[s] pontificate. As a result, the January consistory in many ways will mark the first time that Leo can look ahead to his own agenda following his May 8 election as the first American pope.” (12/20/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-leo-summons-worlds-cardinals-key-assembly-govern-128579068
-----
8) Saudi Arabia quietly expands access to its only alcohol store for non-Muslim residents
Source: Associated Press
“Saudi Arabia has quietly expanded access to its only store that sells alcohol, allowing wealthy foreign residents to buy booze in the latest step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom’s experiment in liberalization. There’s been no official announcement of the decision, but word has gotten out, and long lines of cars and people can now be seen at the discreet, unmarked store in the Diplomatic Quarter of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The store opened in January 2024 for non-Muslim diplomats. The new rules allow non-Muslim foreigners who hold Premium Residency to buy. The residency permit goes to foreigners with specialized skills, investors and entrepreneurs. Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam, has banned alcohol since the early 1950s.” (12/21/25)
https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-alcohol-kingdom-residents-d20dc5eeb20104bf03a1e82e2365d70e
-----
9) SCOTUS rebuffs Trump in immigration judges’ free-speech case
Source: Politico
“The Trump administration suffered a rare defeat at the Supreme Court on Friday, as the justices turned down an emergency request to halt a lawsuit over the government’s effort to bar immigration judges from speaking publicly about their work. In a brief order, the high court suggested it might step into the dispute in the future, but allowed the litigation to continue to play out in the lower courts. … The judges’ union filed suit in 2020 over a policy enacted during the first Trump administration that prohibited immigration judges from public comments about their work. Previously, judges were free to discuss those issues, if they made clear they were not speaking on behalf of the Justice Department, which runs the immigration courts.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/sSMa1
-----
10) Four ICE gang abductee deaths in four days spark alarm as abductions continue
Source: Washington Post
“Four people in immigration detention have died over a four-day period this month, increasing concern among advocates and some members of Congress over detention conditions. One death took place Dec. 12, another two took place on Dec. 14 and the fourth on Dec. 15, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news releases. … The recent deaths bring total detainee deaths to 30 in 2025, the highest number since 2004, when 32 people died in ICE custody.” (12/20/25)
https://archive.is/h0E7T
-----
11) FL: Woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day
Source: NBC News
“Authorities in Florida are accusing a 51-year-old woman of shooting and killing two ex-husbands on the same day this week. Susan Erica Avalon was arrested on Thursday on charges of second degree homicide in Manatee County, where her first ex-husband lived, according to Sheriff Rick Wells. … When investigators told her they are there to speak to her about her ex-husband, she responded, ‘which one?’ Wells said. Investigators then began digging into Avalon’s second ex-husband, who lived in Tampa. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office requested the help of the Tampa Police Department to check on the man and found he had been shot and killed in his home. … Authorities believe Avalon first went to Tampa to kill her second ex-husband before heading to Manatee County and shooting her first ex-husband, the 54-year-old man, Wells said.” (12/20/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-woman-accused-gunning-two-ex-husbands-rcna250213
-----
12) Pakistan: Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts. The sentence, handed down on Saturday, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts – including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government – at far below market value. They have denied all charges. In order to keep gifts from foreign dignitaries, Pakistani law requires officials to purchase them at market value and to declare profits from any sales. But prosecutors claimed that the couple profited from the items after purchasing them at an artificially low price of $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521.” (12/20/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/20/ex-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-wife-sentenced-to-17-years-in-corruption-case
-----
13) MN: Vikings’ team plane forced to turn around with mechanical issue during travel to Giants game
Source: Fox News
“The Minnesota Vikings’ team plane was forced to turn around during the team’s flight to New Jersey for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. Their team plane experienced mechanical issues shortly after departing Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport while en route to Newark Liberty International Airport, according to a team spokesperson. The Vikings were expected to arrive in Newark later Saturday night after boarding a second plane. ‘Shortly after departing, the team plane experienced mechanical issues that required a return to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The team will board a second plane momentarily and is now expected to arrive at Newark International Airport later tonight,’ the team said in a statement. Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers commented on an Instagram post of the news, writing, ‘We’re ok.'” (12/20/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/vikings-team-plane-forced-turn-around-amid-mechanical-issue-during-travel-giants-game
-----
14) Musk wins appeal that restores 2018 Tesla pay deal now worth about $139 billion
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Elon Musk’s 2018 pay package from Tesla, once worth $56 billion, was restored by the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday, nearly two years after a lower court struck down the compensation deal as ‘unfathomable.’ The ruling overturns a decision that had prompted a furious backlash from Musk and damaged Delaware’s business-friendly reputation. It assures Musk greater control over the company, which he has said is his main concern, even after shareholders recently approved a new pay package that could be worth $878 billion if Tesla meets certain targets. The Supreme Court said a 2024 ruling that rescinded the pay package had been improper and inequitable to Musk. The remedy of total rescission ‘leaves Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years,’ the 49-page ruling issued on Friday stated.” (12/20/25)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-wins-appeal-restores-2018-212635609.html
-----
15) Iraq’s political future in limbo as factions vie for power
Source: SFGate
“Political factions in Iraq have been maneuvering since the parliamentary election more than a month ago to form alliances that will shape the next government. The November election didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority, opening the door to a prolonged period of negotiations. The government that eventually emerges will be inheriting a security situation that has stabilized in recent years, but it will also face a fragmented parliament, growing political influence by armed factions, a fragile economy, and often conflicting international and regional pressures, including the future of Iran-backed armed groups. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s party took the largest number of seats in the election. Al-Sudani positioned himself in his first term as a pragmatist focused on improving public services and managed to keep Iraq on the sidelines of regional conflicts.” (12/20/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/iraq-s-political-future-in-limbo-as-factions-vie-21255011.php
-----
16) Australia: Regime plans tougher flag censorship laws because flags kill people … oh, wait
Source: ABC News
“The Australian state of New South Wales is proposing to ban public displays of Islamic State group flags or extremist symbols after a mass shooting driven by antisemitism killed 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Under draft laws to be debated by the state Parliament, publicly displaying the IS flag or symbols from other extremist groups will be offenses punishable by up to two years in prison and fines. The state’s premier, Chris Minns, also said chants of ‘globalize the intifada’ will be banned and police would be given greater powers to demand protesters remove face coverings at demonstrations.” (12/20/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/australian-state-plans-tougher-laws-displaying-extremist-flags-128580980
-----
17) TX: Two riders trapped more than 100 feet in air after roller coaster malfunctions
Source: Fox News
“Two theme parkgoers were trapped more than 100 feet in the air for more than 30 minutes this week after a roller coaster in Texas malfunctioned. The Circuit Breaker roller coaster at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin unexpectedly stopped at the first drop, leaving Matthew Cantu, 24, and Nicholas Sanchez, 20, dangling at a 90-degree angle Wednesday night, KXAN-TV reported, citing a publicist representing the two men. ‘For more than 30 minutes after the ride stopped, family members reported receiving no clear updates, while witnesses said staff provided conflicting explanations, including comments that the riders ‘weren’t strapped in currently,’’ the publicist’s news release said, People magazine reported. ‘A sensor triggered a ride delay,’ the Circuit of the Americas told Fox News Digital in a statement Saturday. ‘It was resolved, and the ride proceeded without incident.'” (12/20/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/two-riders-trapped-dangling-100-feet-air-after-texas-roller-coaster-malfunctions-circuit-americas
-----
18) NY: Stefanik drops out of governor’s race, won’t seek reelection to Congress
Source: United Press International
“Republican U.S. House Rep. Elise Stefanik on Friday announced she was ending her run for New York governor after 1 1/2 months and won’t seek another term in Congress. On Nov. 7, Stefanik launched a campaign bid in an effort to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in November 2026. ‘While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress,’ Stefanik, 41, wrote on X. … Stefanik has represented the rural conservative upstate New York district since 2014, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at that time.” (12/19/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/12/19/NY-Elise-Stefanik-drops-out-governors-race/5811766183265/
-----
19) CA: Waymo temporarily suspends service in San Francisco amid power outage
Source: SFGate
“Waymo halted service in San Francisco as of Saturday at 8 p.m., following a power outage that left approximately 30% of the city without power. The autonomous cars have been causing traffic jams throughout the city, as the vehicles seem unable to function without traffic signals. ‘We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,’ Suzanne Philion, a Waymo spokesperson told SFGATE via email Saturday night. ‘We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.’ Pedestrians posted videos on X Saturday of Waymo cars stuck at intersections with their lights flashing. The widespread power outage is affecting around San Francisco 130,000 customers and began as early as 9:40 a.m. in parts of the city.” (12/20/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/waymo-temporarily-suspends-service-sf-amid-power-21254917.php
-----
20) France: Court rejects regime’s request to suspend Shein
Source: Deutsche Welle [Germany]
“A Paris court on Friday rejected the French government’s request to suspend Chinese online platform Shein. The government made the request for a three-month suspension after public outcry sparked by the presence on the platform of child-like sex dolls and other illicit items. Besides child-like sex dolls, illegal weapons and banned medications were also found on the platform. The court said in its Friday ruling that suspending Shein would have been ‘disproportionate,’ as the offending products had been removed from the platform.” (12/19/25)
https://www.dw.com/en/france-court-rejects-request-to-suspend-shein/a-75247011
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Peace President? Yeah, Right.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“On December 17, surrounded by festive holiday decorations, US president Donald Trump delivered an upbeat — one might even say manic — address to the nation …. While many expected something weighty (perhaps announcement of further military escalation versus Venezuela), what they got was laundry list of Trump’s ‘accomplishments’ since his inauguration in January. Most of those ‘accomplishments’ — ruinous tariffs on American consumers, immoral and economically damaging immigration raids, etc. — were things we already knew about from watching our bank balances draw inexorably down. One, however, stood out to me as the most risible. ‘For the first time in 3,000 years,’ Trump said, he’s brought ‘peace to the Middle East.’ He said that, with as close to a straight face as he ever shows, hours after saluting the flag-draped caskets of two US National Guard members and a civilian interpreter killed in Syria the previous week.” (12/20/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20208
-----
22) Not What He Seems
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Cicero offered a useful piece of advice: Esse quam videri — ‘be rather than seem,’ that the important thing is to be virtuous or good or successful or courageous rather than merely to appear to be. Trump has spent his life turning that on its head: He was a middling businessman who was in bankruptcy court a lot more often than he was at the top of the game, so he spent years playing a successful businessman on television. He cannot write an ordinary good English sentence, but he paid someone to write a book and put his name on it. His imaginary friend John Barron would call writers at the New York Post and other outlets to tell them silly lies about everything from Trump’s business successes to his dating life. And, of course, he emblazons his name on things — most recently, the Kennedy Center.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/NhkN0
-----
23) At the Movies, But for How Long?
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Daniel Nuccio
“It seems strange thinking about Kill Bill in 2025 the way people did about Lawrence of Arabia or The Godfather in 2003, but they just don’t make movies like that anymore and it’s hard to imagine something like Kill Bill getting made in recent years by anyone other than someone with Tarantino’s clout. … Unlike films released between 2016-2024, Kill Bill never felt beholden to some woke Hays Code requiring films to conform to the delicate sensibilities of a thirty-five-year old cat mom with a grievance studies degree.” (12/20/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/at-the-movies-but-for-how-long/
-----
24) The Infinite Reopening of History
Source: Quillette
by John Aziz
“Over the past year, a new ideological framework, which I’ll call neo-decolonialism, has been taking hold in activist, academic, and political discourse. This framework has the potential to reopen and reinflame a vast number of conflicts. This is where slogans like ‘globalise the intifada’ ultimately lead — to a world in which no political settlement is ever final, and no peace is durable. It’s important to make a clear distinction between actual decolonisation and what I am calling neo-decolonialism. Real decolonisation was a concrete, historically specific process in which empires withdrew from territories they had been administering, as exemplified by the end of the Raj. … neo-decolonialism is not about dismantling real empires …. Instead, it retroactively reclassifies political arrangements as ‘colonial’ based on contemporary group dynamics, racial or ethnic categories (e.g. ‘whiteness’), and the question of which side has the most power.” (12/20/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/12/20/the-infinite-reopening-of-history-activism-decolonisation/
-----
25) The real reason to commemorate Hanukkah
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“The amazing thing about Hanukkah is that despite the past mistakes and the mess the ancient Israelis got themselves into, there were a few (indeed a remnant of a remnant: the proverbial three percent, perhaps) who were able to figure out and take successful action to recover and preserve their nation, their people, their religion, and their culture. And thereby set the stage for the rest of human history to our day. Even though those same Maccabean rebels turned around and did exactly the same things that had led to the mess they got out of. And indeed, started making the same mistakes that their oppressors, the Selucids, had made in abusing the Jews.” (12/20/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/12/20/the-real-reason-to-commemorate-hanukkah/
-----
26) A Possible Strategy for Stopping War on Venezuela
Source: Common Dreams
by Kevin Young
“Few believe the justifications for the ongoing US murder campaign, and now military blockade, off the coast of Venezuela. Even US officials seem halfheartedly committed to their claims about stopping drugs. They now concede that the real goal is overthrowing the Venezuelan government and recovering ‘our oil,’ which was mistakenly buried under Venezuelan soil. If they succeed there, they will surely escalate violence against Cuba and perhaps other noncompliant governments. The larger goal, proclaims the US secretary of defense, is the ‘restoration of our power and prerogatives in this hemisphere.’ That entails reasserting ‘US military dominance in the Western Hemisphere’ and with it the ‘access to key terrain throughout the region’ — that is, markets and resources like our oil. In the meantime, if blowing up boats can also divert attention from domestic scandals, that’s a bonus.” (12/20/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/strategy-stop-venezuela-war
-----
27) Immigrants didn’t cause America’s trucking crisis — Washington did
Source: The Hill
by Bhupinder Kaur
“Federal regulators have created a trucking crisis — and they did it by ignoring their own evidence, bypassing basic safeguards and targeting a workforce that has kept America moving through every national emergency of the past decade. In September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an interim final rule that effectively bars most lawfully present, work-authorized immigrant drivers from obtaining, renewing or maintaining non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. The rule limits eligibility to just three visa categories — H-2A, H-2B and E-2 — while excluding refugees, asylees, DACA recipients and other federally authorized workers who have long been able to drive using a valid employment authorization document. These drivers meet every federal safety requirement, pass the same tests, satisfy the same medical standards and comply with the same drug-and-alcohol protocols as every other CDL holder. Yet FMCSA is treating immigration category as a disqualifying risk.” (12/20/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5656703-fmcsa-rule-immigrant-truckers/
-----
28) The Fundamental Pivot of Humanity
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Two million years ago, give or take, there was a fundamental and unexplained change in the archaeological record. Since then our progress has come far faster than it should have according to evolutionary theory, leaving scientists perplexed. … pre-2 million BC skulls (homo habilis and prior) have ridges at the eyebrow level, and that the skulls go directly backward from there. That is, they have no forehead. Beginning at homo ergaster and homo erectus, however – that being roughly two million years ago – the skulls begin to rise in their fronts. … Human brains feature an enormous prefrontal cortex. This is the structure that allows us to do all the massively advanced things we do. And this structure could not fit into our skulls without that high forehead; the prefrontal cortex fills precisely that new space.” (12/20/25)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/the-fundamental-pivot-of-humanity
-----
29) For Ukraine and Taiwan, dissuasion in strength
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“With calm resolve, the United States and the European Union have each made decisions in recent days showing a firm watchfulness against big-power aggression. Neither will receive a Nobel Peace Prize for its actions – Alfred Nobel’s idea of a secure world did not include military deterrence. Yet together, the U.S. and EU have at least helped make war a bit more unthinkable. On Dec. 17, the Trump administration approved the largest-ever U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Congress is expected to approve the $11.1 billion weapons package, especially after the House Select Committee on China issued a report Thursday calling for ‘unambiguous’ opposition to Beijing’s moves toward an invasion of the self-governing democratic island.” (12/19/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1219/For-Ukraine-and-Taiwan-dissuasion-in-strength
-----
30) A War No American Needs: Confrontation with Venezuela Brings Neither Security nor Benefit
Source: Antiwar.com
by Greg Pence
The United States finds itself at a moment when the gap between power and prudence has rarely been more visible. As American society grapples with structural inflation, deep social fragmentation, a crisis of institutional credibility, and the steady erosion of public trust, renewed talk of military confrontation with Venezuela is once again circulating within Washington’s political and security circles. In recent months, this rhetoric has intensified, driven in part by President Donald Trump and influential figures around him – most notably Senator Marco Rubio – who have pushed an increasingly confrontational line toward Caracas, bringing the country closer to the threshold of conflict. These developments are not the product of a genuine threat, but rather reflect a dangerous habit in U.S. foreign policy: transforming domestic deadlock into external military adventure.” (12/19/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/greg_pence/2025/12/18/a-war-no-american-needs-confrontation-with-venezuela-brings-neither-security-nor-benefit/
-----
31) Brace for (and blame Congress for) another looming government shutdown
Source: New York Post
by staff
“Brace for another government shutdown early in the new year …. The short-term funding bill that Democrats finally allowed to pass last month, ending the record-long shutdown, only runs through Jan. 30. The federal Fiscal Year 2026 started Oct. 1 this year, yet the House and Senate have so far passed only three of the 12 appropriations bills to fund various parts of the government. And they’re not even close on the other nine; they’d need a Christmas miracle to get it done in time. And it’ll be brutally hard to pass yet another stopgap bill, or alternately another ‘omnibus’ to cover everything through next Oct. 1: Too many Republicans are sick of these contraptions, while too few Democrats are willing to give the GOP any help at all.” [editor’s note: The Democrats didn’t have to “allow” the funding bill to pass; the Republicans could have passed it without their help at any time – TLK] (12/20/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/20/opinion/brace-for-and-blame-congress-for-another-looming-government-shutdown/
-----
32) Online Gaming’s Final Boss: The Copyright Bully
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Corynne McSherry & Kit Walsh
“Since earliest days of computer games, people have tinkered with the software to customize their own experiences or share their vision with others. From the dad who changed the game’s male protagonist to a girl so his daughter could see herself in it, to the developers who got their start in modding, games have been a medium where you don’t just consume a product, you participate and interact with culture. For decades, that participatory experience was a key part of one of the longest-running video games still in operation: Everquest. Players had the official client, acquired lawfully from EverQuest’s developers, and modders figured out how to enable those clients to communicate with their own servers and then modify their play experience – creating new communities along the way. Everquest’s copyright owners implicitly blessed all this. But the current owners, a private equity firm called Daybreak, want to end that independent creativity.” (12/19/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/online-gamings-final-boss-copyright-bully
-----
33) If Israel Gets To Undermine Our Rights, Then We Get To Undermine Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“You are allowed to subvert and undermine Israel’s interests, because Israel is trying to subvert and undermine your rights. You are allowed to interfere in Israel’s affairs, because Israel is interfering in your country’s affairs. As Israel tries to exert more and more influence over western society and pushes western governments to crush our freedom of speech and assembly, we should be doing everything we can to make sure that western society turns against Israel, and that western governments alienate this freakish apartheid state on the world stage. And we should feel perfectly entitled in doing so, because Israel certainly feels comfortable coming after us and our rights. If Israel is going after us, then we get to go after Israel. It’s just basic self-defense at this point.” (12/21/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/21/if-israel-gets-to-undermine-our-rights-then-we-get-to-undermine-israel/
-----
34) Protecting a Societal Cancer with a Web of Lies
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Patrick Barron
“There is a deadly cancer that is eating away at Western society — welfare. It is supported by a web of lies that are so pervasive that no one dare question them. Two of the most ingrained are: * There is no substitute for helping the unfortunate than government-provided welfare on demand; *The monetary stimulus from welfare spending adds to aggregate demand and helps to stimulate the economy.” (12/19/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/protecting-societal-cancer-web-lies
-----
35) Notes on Anarcho-Capitalism
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“I’m pretty sure I won’t be around long enough to see anarcho-capitalism — or what I call market-ordered anarchism — prevail in the United States. I’m just as sure that I won’t see government strictly limited to protecting individual rights and never violating them (if that’s coherent). So that’s a wash. But it doesn’t follow that discussing individualist, pro-property, free-market alternatives to the current, virtually out-of-control political system in America is time wasted. Far from it! If we want to progress toward liberty, we’d better get a move on.” (12/19/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/12/tgif-notes-on-anarcho-capitalism.html
-----
36) How Productivity Advances
Source: EconLog
by Arnold Kling
“One interesting source of efficiency is removing unnecessary steps in the production process. For example, in an assembly line, if you raise the conveyor belt, the workers will not have to bend and lift objects. Modern writers often use scare quotes to describe ‘scientific management’ or ‘Taylorism,’ creating the impression that time-and-motion studies were instruments of oppression aimed at individual workers. But from Potter I learned that time-and-motion studies were used to discover ways to improve manufacturing processes. Raising the height of the conveyor belt is an example of scientific management that is a win-win for workers and for the manufacturer.” (12/19/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/klingproductivity
-----
37) Like the Iraq War, but Worse
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Chait
“Trump did not oppose the Iraq War at the time, but he did present himself as a critic after it went south. His most consistent reason for his opposition was that America had failed to seize Iraq’s oil, despite the fact that doing so would have been a war crime. … Trump has long benefited from his contrast with the second Bush administration’s failed experiments with nation building. He has dismissed his Republican critics as neoconservatives, and some left-wing populists credit him for moving his party away from Bush-style interventionism. Yet Trump’s saber-rattling against Venezuela confirms that his argument with neoconservatism was never about the hubris of exporting democracy or a faith in pacifistic leadership. Trump’s main complaint about Bush was that he squandered an opportunity to enrich the U.S. by caring too much about international law and the dignity of the Iraqi people.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/SK238
-----
38) Why Trump’s blue slip blues aren’t Grassley’s fault
Source: Fox News
by Mike Davis
“President Trump is rightfully angry that some of his top choices for U.S. attorneys in Democrat-controlled states are being blocked by Democrats and their leftist allies in the judicial branch. But the recent attacks from some supporters of the president against Sen. Chuck Grassley, Trump’s most effective ally in the Senate, are misplaced. To start, remember who Grassley is. He’s a dignified statesman but also a shrewd legislator, fearless investigator and Senate workhorse. He doesn’t chase the limelight but quietly puts one win after the other on the scoreboard for Trump and his MAGA agenda. This isn’t bluster. Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices, and two were carried squarely on the shoulders of Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.” (12/19/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-davis-why-trumps-blue-slip-blues-arent-grassleys-fault
-----
39) Palestine: Israeli Forces Murder Six at Wedding Celebration
Source: Common Dreams
“Funerals were held Saturday in northern Gaza for six people, including children, massacred the previous day by Israeli tank fire during a wedding celebration at a school sheltering displaced people, as the number of Palestinians killed during the tenuous 10-week ceasefire rose to over 400. On Friday, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank blasted the second floor of the Gaza Martyrs School, which was housing Palestinians displaced by the two-year war on Gaza in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City. Al Jazeera and other news outlets reported that the attack occurred while people were celebrating a wedding. Al-Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abou Salmiya said those slain included a 4-month-old infant, a 14-year-old girl, and two women. At least five others were injured in the attack.” (12/20/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-school-shelter-massacre
-----
40) Military contractors reap big profits in war-to-homeland pipeline
SourceS: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst
“By leveraging the dual-use nature of many of their products, where defense technologies can be integrated into the commercial sector and vice versa, Pentagon contractors like Palantir, Skydio, and General Atomics have gained ground at home for surveillance technologies — especially drones — proliferating war-tested military tech within the domestic sphere.” (12/19/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/domestic-war-tech/
-----
41) Epstein and the Clintons: As Hillary Launched Presidential Campaign, Epstein Feared Exposure
Source: Drop Site
by Ryan Grim & Murtaza Hussain
“Since Jeffrey Epstein’s second arrest in 2019, the Clintons have spent considerable effort distancing themselves from the enigmatic financier, and they are currently fending off House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, who threatened contempt proceedings after the political power couple refused to testify this week regarding their relationship to Epstein. … Yet as Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign ramped up, it was Epstein looking to duck the Clintons. Epstein was facing increasingly dire legal consequences in South Florida, stemming from his years-long sexual exploitation of young women and girls. The glare of a presidential campaign risked unraveling what Epstein and his friend and ally Ghislaine Maxwell had so effectively constructed over the years, as they were increasingly associated with the spectacle of ‘Clintonworld.'” (12/19/25)
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-hillary-bill-clinton-ghislaine-maxwell
-----
42) How The New Yorker Became Irrelevant
Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn
“On the decline of America’s premier magazine.” (12/19/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-the-new-yorker-lost-its-soul
-----
43) Why Trump’s “peace deals” keep unraveling
Source: Washington Post
by Keith B Richburg
“Signing a ceasefire deal before the cameras is usually just the beginning. Changing the realities on the ground — and getting combatants to lay down their weapons — requires a more sustained level of follow-through and commitment. It’s a lesson to keep in mind as Trump aims for what would be the grandest peace deal of all: an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war about to enter its fourth bloody year. The Ukraine war is itself the product of entering into flimsy peace agreements and not following through.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/UJcfQ
-----
44) Unchecked Waters: The Constitutional Crisis of Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
Source: Common Dreams
by Angel Gomez
“On 16 December, 2025, President Donald Trump announced what he called ‘a total and complete blockade’ of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. Delivered via his personal media platform, the statement was sweeping in its implications. Trump declared that Venezuela was ‘completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America’, and he made clear this would not end until all Venezuelan ‘oil, land, and other assets’ were returned to the United States. But beneath the dramatic language lies a far more dangerous truth: this action marks a breach of US constitutional limits, a perilous expansion of executive authority, and a break with both legal precedent and historical norms of dispute resolution. At its core, this naval blockade (undeclared, unauthorized, and now operational) poses a direct challenge to the War Powers Resolution, a congressional statute designed specifically to prevent precisely this kind of unilateral military escalation.” (12/20/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/unchecked-waters-the-constitutional-crisis-of-trumps-venezuela-oil-blockade
-----
45) Netflix’s Ownership of Warner Bros. Would Change Filmmaking Incentives
Source: Independent Institute
by Matthew B Crawford
“However, the ownership of Warner Bros. shakes out, it is worth thinking about the intuitions that caused people in the film and television business to freak out about the prospect of Netflix taking over a major studio. Last Thursday, a group of top film producers and other industry players sent a joint letter to congressional representatives, urging them to block the deal. It was published anonymously for fear of retaliation by Netflix and expressed skepticism that films produced under Netflix would continue to be released in theatres, despite Netflix’s assurances. The film industry group pointed out that Netflix’s incentives are such that they do not want people sitting in theatres, as this represents time not spent on the platform. The industry letter suggests the whole ecosystem of Hollywood would be put at risk with this deal, and the survival of an art form would be put in doubt.” (12/19/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/19/netflixs-ownership-warner-bros-filmmaking-incentives/
-----
46) Stop Fixating on CEO Pay Ratios and Start Fixing Labor Markets
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Eye-catching statistics about executive compensation tell us nothing about fairness, and distract from the real drivers of wage growth and worker prosperity.” (12/19/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/stop-fixating-on-ceo-pay-ratios-and-start-fixing-labor-markets/
-----
47) Medicaid’s Wake-Up Call
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Elias Tsapelas
“Over the past several months, I’ve written about the many changes coming to Missouri’s welfare programs as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). One of the most impactful changes involves the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In short, if Missouri doesn’t get its SNAP payment error rate below 6%, state taxpayers will start paying for a portion of the program’s benefit costs (the federal government currently covers 100% of benefits), which could potentially increase the state taxpayer cost to $400 million per year. A similar change is coming to Medicaid.” (12/19/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/health-care/medicaids-wake-up-call/
-----
48) Against Against Boomers
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Hating Boomers is the new cool thing. … ‘You don’t hate Boomers enough’ has become a popular Twitter catchphrase. Richard Hanania, who has tried hating every group once, has decided that hating Boomers is his favorite. Some people might say we just experienced a historic upwelling of identity politics, that it was pretty terrible for everyone involved, and that perhaps we need a new us-vs-them conflict like we need a punch to the face. This, the Boomer-haters will tell you, would be a mistaken generalization. This time, we have finally discovered a form of identity politics which carves reality at its joints, truly separating the good and bad people. I think these arguments fall short. Even if they didn’t, the usual bias against identity politics should make us think twice about pursuing them too zealously.” (12/19/25)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/against-against-boomers
-----
49) Time For the GOP to Grow A Pair On Health Care
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“It seems like a lifetime ago, mostly because it was, when I was a health policy analyst at a conservative think tank. During my interview for the job, my future boss said something true then, and it still rings true today: On the issue of health care, Democrats are evil and Republicans are stupid. While Republicans are, generally, stupid on health care, it doesn’t have to be that way. Republican Members of Congress view health care as ‘a Democrat issue,’ much the way Democrats view national defense as a Republican one. It’s not like they can’t understand the issues involved, it’s that they’re afraid to – they’re afraid to get out over their skis. They have the mental capacity, but more content in the back of their underpants than the front to really engage with it.” (12/21/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/12/21/time-for-the-gop-to-grow-a-pair-on-health-care-n2668248
-----
50) The Trials Of An Unpopular Populist
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan
“You very rarely see President Trump address the nation the way presidents used to. You know the drill: seated at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, talking candidly and intimately to the American people. Trump tried it with Covid in 2020 and it didn’t quite work. Stiff, awkward, rote, interspersed with sniffs, it’s a bit sad in retrospect. He just can’t do intimacy. He can’t do reassurance. His fireside manner has always been gasoline. This is a real weakness for a president, who may, from time to time, be required to comfort — as Clinton did after the Oklahoma bombing, Bush after 9/11, and Obama after the church mass shooting in Charleston. It’s also a serious flaw if you need to rally people in tough or challenging times. But Trump just can’t do that. He can do other things. But not that.” (12/19/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-trials-of-an-unpopular-populist-e64
-----
51) Remembering Rob Reiner’s Masterpiece
Source: Law & Liberty
by Titus Techera
“Reiner deserves to be remembered because he inspired great affection in millions and millions of people, for, as of now, two generations. Since it’s Christmas, it would be best to remember him by going back to The Princess Bride, which is less of its time than the other movies and more fitting for a family viewing. … More than the funny dialogue or the irony of pointing out the structure of a fairy tale, what makes The Princess Bride such a clever story is the skill with which it brings out what it feels like to be a boy.” (12/19/25)
https://lawliberty.org/remembering-rob-reiners-masterpiece/
-----
52) Capability-based budgeting: A practical roadmap for getting started
Source: Niskanen Center
by Solitaire Carroll
“Capability-based budgeting is not a wholesale reorganization. It’s a way of making the budget legible: first to yourself, then to leadership, then to oversight. Capability-based budgeting is an approach to budgeting that can apply to any kind of team — whether or not you are providing direct support to public facing or mission critical work. You can begin with a single portfolio, a single project, or even a single conversation about what outcomes your team is truly accountable for. Below is a practical roadmap for getting started, based on real federal implementations and the lessons learned along the way.” (12/19/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/capability-based-budgeting-a-practical-roadmap-for-getting-started/
-----
53) How the Charter School Industry’s Newest Scheme Could Be “the Death of Public Schools”
Source: CounterPunch
by Jeff Bryant
“The letters started coming in October 2025. In the first wave, according to the Florida Policy Institute (FPI), “at least 22 school districts in Florida” got letters alerting them that charter school operators, including a for-profit charter school management company based in Miami, intended to use a state law recently enacted to open new charter schools on the campuses of existing public schools beginning August 2027. … With school enrollments in steep decline in nearly every district in the state, fear of a potential mass charter school industry takeover of public school spaces—along with the costs local districts will incur—looms over district leaders across the state and strikes them as a clear existential threat.” [editor’s note: Not sure how this is a bad thing. It exposes “charter schools” as what they are (part of the “public education” monopoly), meaning that monopoly might die off more quickly – TLK] (12/19/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/19/how-the-charter-school-industrys-newest-scheme-could-be-the-death-of-public-schools/
-----
54) Jeffries Undercuts Congressional Stock Trading Ban
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“Last week, I reported on concerns that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was discouraging support for a bipartisan discharge petition to finally advance the exceedingly popular policy of ending congressional stock trading. Discharge petitions signed by a majority of House members get a guaranteed floor vote. The speculation was that Jeffries would rather keep the concept of a trading ban alive for campaigning (and maybe protect Democrats who want to keep trading) than take advantage of the ongoing rebellion against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to make tangible progress. I would say this is wholly confirmed now. The Democratic leadership is filing their own discharge petition on a stock trading ban, countering one from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) that has 74 signatures, including 15 Republicans, more than enough for a House majority if all Democrats sign on.” (12/19/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/19/jeffries-undercuts-congressional-stock-trading-ban/
-----
55) Ukrainian Security Guarantees Are Dangerous and Counterproductive
Source: The American Conservative
by Josh Shifrinson
“A security guarantee for Ukraine is a terrible idea. Even as it would reverse Trump’s long-standing opposition to further enmeshing the United States with Ukraine, a guarantee carries a range of dangers for the United States, Ukraine, and the European NATO allies while delivering few benefits. Whether offered as part of a peace deal or ceasefire, the guarantee may do little to deter Russia. Further, should a conflict break out, the arrangement is poised to trigger a fundamental crisis in U.S.–European relations. Above all, the guarantee promises to complicate rather than ameliorate Ukraine’s own understandable desire to find security for itself in the shadow of its Russian neighbor.” (12/19/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/ukrainian-security-guarantees-are-dangerous-and-counterproductive/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
56) Reason Interview: Keonne Rodriguez
Source: Reason
“Keonne Rodriguez explains why he built a bitcoin privacy tool, discusses the federal charges that sent him to prison this week, and warns that his case could redefine the legal boundaries of financial privacy.” (12/19/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/19/hes-serving-5-years-in-prison-for-bitcoin-privacy-software/
-----
57) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 12/19/25
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Remembering ‘free-thinking’ writer Nat Hentoff.” (12/19/25)
https://www.thefire.org/news/podcasts/so-speak-free-speech-podcast/remembering-free-thinking-writer-nat-hentoff
-----
58) In The Tank Podcast, episode 522
Source: Heartland Institute
“The Future of Movies.” (12/19/25)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/the-future-of-movies-in-the-tank-podcast-522/
-----
59) Rising, 12/19/25
Source: The Hill
“Niall Stanage and Amber Duke discuss the latest in the Brown University shooting where police say the man they believe to be the gunman in last Sunday’s deadly mass shooting has apparently been found dead.” (12/19/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5656795-rising-december-19-2025/
-----
50) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/19/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Press Sec Goes Full Cult as Brutal New Fox Poll Hits Him Hard.” (12/19/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/204630/trump-press-sec-goes-full-cult-brutal-new-fox-poll-hits-hard
-----
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/19/25
Source: Freedom Works
“Ryan Young, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Trump’s Economic Address.'” (12/19/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-12-20_zfw12192025.mp3
-----
62) The Intercept Briefing, 12/19/25
Source: The Intercept
“Deportation, Inc.” (12/19/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/19/deportation-abrego-garcia-ice-immigration/
-----
63) Conflicts of Interest, episode 860
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Zelensky’s Demands for Ending the War.” (12/19/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/zelenskys-demands-for-ending-the-war-coi-860
-----
54) Bulwark Takes, 12/19/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Epstein Files Released, Elise Stefanik Quits.” (12/19/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwhFD0NTdA
-----
65) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2719
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Covid Justice? Here’s a Step.” (12/19/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2719-covid-justice-heres-a-step/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
https://liberty-intl.org/join-the-movement/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Freedom News:
0) Update: Will No One Rid Me Of This Turbulent Year-End Fundraiser?
1) Russia: General killed by bomb under his car in Moscow
2) US-based pirates pursuing third oil tanker near Venezuela, officials say
3) Two lawmakers seek to find Bondi in contempt over Epstein files cover-up
4) Palestine: Israeli regime approves 19 new illegal squats in occupied West Bank
5) WV: Cop who murdered 12-year-old fired from ranger position
6) Mangione’s lawyers renew bid to toss death penalty, alleging Bondi has conflict of interest
7) Pope Leo summons world’s cardinals for a key assembly to help him govern the church
8) Saudi Arabia quietly expands access to its only alcohol store for non-Muslim residents
9) SCOTUS rebuffs Trump in immigration judges’ free-speech case
10) Four ICE gang abductee deaths in four days spark alarm as abductions continue
11) FL: Woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day
12) Pakistan: Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case
13) MN: Vikings’ team plane forced to turn around with mechanical issue during travel to Giants game
14) Musk wins appeal that restores 2018 Tesla pay deal now worth about $139 billion
15) Iraq’s political future in limbo as factions vie for power
16) Australia: Regime plans tougher flag censorship laws because flags kill people … oh, wait
17) TX: Two riders trapped more than 100 feet in air after roller coaster malfunctions
18) NY: Stefanik drops out of governor’s race, won’t seek reelection to Congress
19) CA: Waymo temporarily suspends service in San Francisco amid power outage
20) France: Court rejects regime’s request to suspend Shein
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Peace President? Yeah, Right.
22) Not What He Seems
23) At the Movies, But for How Long?
24) The Infinite Reopening of History
25) The real reason to commemorate Hanukkah
26) A Possible Strategy for Stopping War on Venezuela
27) Immigrants didn’t cause America’s trucking crisis — Washington did
28) The Fundamental Pivot of Humanity
29) For Ukraine and Taiwan, dissuasion in strength
30) A War No American Needs: Confrontation with Venezuela Brings Neither Security nor Benefit
31) Brace for (and blame Congress for) another looming government shutdown
32) Online Gaming’s Final Boss: The Copyright Bully
33) If Israel Gets To Undermine Our Rights, Then We Get To Undermine Israel
34) Protecting a Societal Cancer with a Web of Lies
35) Notes on Anarcho-Capitalism
36) How Productivity Advances
37) Like the Iraq War, but Worse
38) Why Trump’s blue slip blues aren’t Grassley’s fault
39) Palestine: Israeli Forces Murder Six at Wedding Celebration
40) Military contractors reap big profits in war-to-homeland pipeline
41) Epstein and the Clintons: As Hillary Launched Presidential Campaign, Epstein Feared Exposure
42) How The New Yorker Became Irrelevant
43) Why Trump’s “peace deals” keep unraveling
44) Unchecked Waters: The Constitutional Crisis of Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
45) Netflix’s Ownership of Warner Bros. Would Change Filmmaking Incentives
46) Stop Fixating on CEO Pay Ratios and Start Fixing Labor Markets
47) Medicaid’s Wake-Up Call
48) Against Against Boomers
49) Time For the GOP to Grow A Pair On Health Care
50) The Trials Of An Unpopular Populist
51) Remembering Rob Reiner’s Masterpiece
52) Capability-based budgeting: A practical roadmap for getting started
53) How the Charter School Industry’s Newest Scheme Could Be “the Death of Public Schools”
54) Jeffries Undercuts Congressional Stock Trading Ban
55) Ukrainian Security Guarantees Are Dangerous and Counterproductive
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
56) Reason Interview: Keonne Rodriguez
57) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 12/19/25
58) In The Tank Podcast, episode 522
59) Rising, 12/19/25
60) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/19/25
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/19/25
62) The Intercept Briefing, 12/19/25
63) Conflicts of Interest, episode 860
64) Bulwark Takes, 12/19/25
65) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2719
vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv
TRY STARLINK: YOU GET A FREE MONTH AND SO DO WE!
https://starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-DF-8980236-19330-50
THE CONSTITUTION OF NON-STATE GOVERNMENT: FIELD GUIDE TO TEXAS SECESSION, by TL Hulsey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
https://tinyurl.com/actofselfdefense
ONE IDENTITY FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO
https://fioprotocol.io/
SAMUEL EDWARD KONKIN III REVOLUTIONARY FRIEND BY WENDY MCELROY
https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Edward-Konkin-Revolutionary-Friend-ebook/dp/B0DP7B6127
^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^
_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Update: Will No One Rid Me Of This Turbulent Year-End Fundraiser?
Hey, everyone:
One of our long-time supporters, RB, sends this note:
"I'm not senile. I remember I already did this once, but I know it's moving slow this year. Appreciate what you do. Good luck."
What RB already did once this year, and did again over the weekend, was send us a $100 donation, bringing our year-end fundraiser total to $2,208.84. THANK YOU, RB!
Where are those of you who read the freedom movement's newspaper every day, but have never financially supported it?
We're $541.66 short. Once we reach $2,750.50 -- but NOT UNTIL we do -- supporter GL will "match funds" for the other half, getting us to our goal of $5,501.
Please help:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
-----
1) Russia: General killed by bomb under his car in Moscow
Source: NBC News
“A Russian general was killed Monday after a bomb exploded under his car in Moscow, officials said. Russian investigators said they were looking into whether Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was assassinated by Ukrainian intelligence services. NBC News has asked the Ukrainian government for a response. Sarvarov, 56, was head of the operational training directorate of Russia’s armed forces general staff. … If confirmed, it would not be the first time Ukraine has carried out the assassination of a top general deep inside Russia. In April, it claimed responsibility for killing Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik in a car bomb near the Russian capital. And in December 2024, it said it was behind the death of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s chemical, radiological and biological weapons unit.” (12/22/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/russian-general-sarvarov-killed-moscow-car-bomb-ukraine-war-rcna250434
-----
2) US-based pirates pursuing third oil tanker near Venezuela, officials say
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful. ‘The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,’ a U.S. official said. ‘It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.’ … British maritime risk management group Vanguard, along with a U.S. maritime security source, identified the vessel as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier that was added last year to the sanctions list of the U.S. Treasury Department, which said the vessel has links to Iran.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/XzeUB
-----
3) Two lawmakers seek to find Bondi in contempt over Epstein files cover-up
Source: Washington Post
“Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) said Sunday that they will seek to find Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress for not releasing more documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. … Khanna and Massie wrote legislation that passed Congress nearly unanimously and was signed by President Donald Trump last month requiring the Justice Department to release a trove of Epstein files in its possession within 30 days. … Khanna said in an interview with The Washington Post that he and Massie were pursuing contempt findings because the measure would take effect when it got through the House and would not need to go through the Senate. He said they were likely to give Bondi a 30-day grace period and then start fining her daily until she released all the records.” (12/21/25)
https://archive.is/HaYMm
-----
4) Palestine: Israeli regime approves 19 new illegal squats in occupied West Bank
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Israel’s security cabinet has approved the recognition of 19 new [squats] in the occupied West Bank as the government continues its settlement expansion push. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who proposed the move alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, said the decision was about blocking the [geographic coherence of the] Palestinian state. Israeli [squats] in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law. … Since taking office in 2022, the current Israeli government has significantly increased the approval of new [squats]s and begun the legalisation [sic] process for unauthorised outposts, recognising them as ‘neighbourhoods’ of existing settlements.” (12/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjg18xe0wwo
-----
5) WV: Cop who murdered 12-year-old fired from ranger position
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The former Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 was fired from his post as a ranger at a West Virginia resort community, the fourth known time in seven years that he left a small department following public backlash. Timothy Loehmann was fired on Friday from his position at the Snowshoe Resort Community District (SRCD). The district’s board announced Loehmann’s firing in a statement following their emergency meeting. A Cleveland-based attorney for Rice’s family, Subodh Chandra, said that ‘Loehmann’s determination to inflict himself on other people seems pathological. So does the craven poor judgment required by any public officials who hire him.'” (12/21/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/21/officer-fired-tamir-rice-shooting
-----
6) Mangione’s lawyers renew bid to toss death penalty, alleging Bondi has conflict of interest
Source: Fox News
“Lawyers for Luigi Mangione on Friday renewed and expanded their effort to have the death penalty thrown out in his case, arguing Attorney General Pam Bondi has a disqualifying financial conflict of interest. In court filings reviewed by Fox News Digital, the defense argued that Bondi’s calls for the death penalty following Mangione’s arrest were improper because she was previously a partner at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm that represented UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of slain CEO Brian Thompson. The defense argues Bondi continues to receive financial benefits through Ballard’s profit-sharing plan and should have recused herself from any role in the case. … Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring even before Mangione was formally indicted that capital punishment was warranted for what she called a ‘premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.'” (12/20/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/luigi-mangione-lawyers-renew-bid-toss-death-penalty-charge-alleging-pam-bondi-conflict-interest
-----
7) Pope Leo summons world’s cardinals for a key assembly to help him govern the church
Source: ABC News
“Pope Leo XIV has summoned the world’s cardinals for two days of meetings to help him govern the church, the Vatican said Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that the new year will signal the unofficial start of his pontificate. The consistory, as such gatherings are called, will be held Jan. 7-8, immediately following the Jan. 6 conclusion of the 2025 Holy Year, a once-every-quarter century celebration of Christianity. Leo’s first few months as pope have been dominated by fulfilling the weekly Holy Year obligations of meeting with pilgrimage groups and celebrating special Jubilee audiences and Masses. Additionally, much of his time has been spent wrapping up the outstanding matters of Pope Francis'[s] pontificate. As a result, the January consistory in many ways will mark the first time that Leo can look ahead to his own agenda following his May 8 election as the first American pope.” (12/20/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-leo-summons-worlds-cardinals-key-assembly-govern-128579068
-----
8) Saudi Arabia quietly expands access to its only alcohol store for non-Muslim residents
Source: Associated Press
“Saudi Arabia has quietly expanded access to its only store that sells alcohol, allowing wealthy foreign residents to buy booze in the latest step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom’s experiment in liberalization. There’s been no official announcement of the decision, but word has gotten out, and long lines of cars and people can now be seen at the discreet, unmarked store in the Diplomatic Quarter of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The store opened in January 2024 for non-Muslim diplomats. The new rules allow non-Muslim foreigners who hold Premium Residency to buy. The residency permit goes to foreigners with specialized skills, investors and entrepreneurs. Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam, has banned alcohol since the early 1950s.” (12/21/25)
https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-alcohol-kingdom-residents-d20dc5eeb20104bf03a1e82e2365d70e
-----
9) SCOTUS rebuffs Trump in immigration judges’ free-speech case
Source: Politico
“The Trump administration suffered a rare defeat at the Supreme Court on Friday, as the justices turned down an emergency request to halt a lawsuit over the government’s effort to bar immigration judges from speaking publicly about their work. In a brief order, the high court suggested it might step into the dispute in the future, but allowed the litigation to continue to play out in the lower courts. … The judges’ union filed suit in 2020 over a policy enacted during the first Trump administration that prohibited immigration judges from public comments about their work. Previously, judges were free to discuss those issues, if they made clear they were not speaking on behalf of the Justice Department, which runs the immigration courts.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/sSMa1
-----
10) Four ICE gang abductee deaths in four days spark alarm as abductions continue
Source: Washington Post
“Four people in immigration detention have died over a four-day period this month, increasing concern among advocates and some members of Congress over detention conditions. One death took place Dec. 12, another two took place on Dec. 14 and the fourth on Dec. 15, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news releases. … The recent deaths bring total detainee deaths to 30 in 2025, the highest number since 2004, when 32 people died in ICE custody.” (12/20/25)
https://archive.is/h0E7T
-----
11) FL: Woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day
Source: NBC News
“Authorities in Florida are accusing a 51-year-old woman of shooting and killing two ex-husbands on the same day this week. Susan Erica Avalon was arrested on Thursday on charges of second degree homicide in Manatee County, where her first ex-husband lived, according to Sheriff Rick Wells. … When investigators told her they are there to speak to her about her ex-husband, she responded, ‘which one?’ Wells said. Investigators then began digging into Avalon’s second ex-husband, who lived in Tampa. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office requested the help of the Tampa Police Department to check on the man and found he had been shot and killed in his home. … Authorities believe Avalon first went to Tampa to kill her second ex-husband before heading to Manatee County and shooting her first ex-husband, the 54-year-old man, Wells said.” (12/20/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-woman-accused-gunning-two-ex-husbands-rcna250213
-----
12) Pakistan: Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts. The sentence, handed down on Saturday, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts – including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government – at far below market value. They have denied all charges. In order to keep gifts from foreign dignitaries, Pakistani law requires officials to purchase them at market value and to declare profits from any sales. But prosecutors claimed that the couple profited from the items after purchasing them at an artificially low price of $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521.” (12/20/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/20/ex-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-wife-sentenced-to-17-years-in-corruption-case
-----
13) MN: Vikings’ team plane forced to turn around with mechanical issue during travel to Giants game
Source: Fox News
“The Minnesota Vikings’ team plane was forced to turn around during the team’s flight to New Jersey for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. Their team plane experienced mechanical issues shortly after departing Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport while en route to Newark Liberty International Airport, according to a team spokesperson. The Vikings were expected to arrive in Newark later Saturday night after boarding a second plane. ‘Shortly after departing, the team plane experienced mechanical issues that required a return to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The team will board a second plane momentarily and is now expected to arrive at Newark International Airport later tonight,’ the team said in a statement. Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers commented on an Instagram post of the news, writing, ‘We’re ok.'” (12/20/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/vikings-team-plane-forced-turn-around-amid-mechanical-issue-during-travel-giants-game
-----
14) Musk wins appeal that restores 2018 Tesla pay deal now worth about $139 billion
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Elon Musk’s 2018 pay package from Tesla, once worth $56 billion, was restored by the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday, nearly two years after a lower court struck down the compensation deal as ‘unfathomable.’ The ruling overturns a decision that had prompted a furious backlash from Musk and damaged Delaware’s business-friendly reputation. It assures Musk greater control over the company, which he has said is his main concern, even after shareholders recently approved a new pay package that could be worth $878 billion if Tesla meets certain targets. The Supreme Court said a 2024 ruling that rescinded the pay package had been improper and inequitable to Musk. The remedy of total rescission ‘leaves Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years,’ the 49-page ruling issued on Friday stated.” (12/20/25)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-wins-appeal-restores-2018-212635609.html
-----
15) Iraq’s political future in limbo as factions vie for power
Source: SFGate
“Political factions in Iraq have been maneuvering since the parliamentary election more than a month ago to form alliances that will shape the next government. The November election didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority, opening the door to a prolonged period of negotiations. The government that eventually emerges will be inheriting a security situation that has stabilized in recent years, but it will also face a fragmented parliament, growing political influence by armed factions, a fragile economy, and often conflicting international and regional pressures, including the future of Iran-backed armed groups. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s party took the largest number of seats in the election. Al-Sudani positioned himself in his first term as a pragmatist focused on improving public services and managed to keep Iraq on the sidelines of regional conflicts.” (12/20/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/iraq-s-political-future-in-limbo-as-factions-vie-21255011.php
-----
16) Australia: Regime plans tougher flag censorship laws because flags kill people … oh, wait
Source: ABC News
“The Australian state of New South Wales is proposing to ban public displays of Islamic State group flags or extremist symbols after a mass shooting driven by antisemitism killed 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Under draft laws to be debated by the state Parliament, publicly displaying the IS flag or symbols from other extremist groups will be offenses punishable by up to two years in prison and fines. The state’s premier, Chris Minns, also said chants of ‘globalize the intifada’ will be banned and police would be given greater powers to demand protesters remove face coverings at demonstrations.” (12/20/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/australian-state-plans-tougher-laws-displaying-extremist-flags-128580980
-----
17) TX: Two riders trapped more than 100 feet in air after roller coaster malfunctions
Source: Fox News
“Two theme parkgoers were trapped more than 100 feet in the air for more than 30 minutes this week after a roller coaster in Texas malfunctioned. The Circuit Breaker roller coaster at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin unexpectedly stopped at the first drop, leaving Matthew Cantu, 24, and Nicholas Sanchez, 20, dangling at a 90-degree angle Wednesday night, KXAN-TV reported, citing a publicist representing the two men. ‘For more than 30 minutes after the ride stopped, family members reported receiving no clear updates, while witnesses said staff provided conflicting explanations, including comments that the riders ‘weren’t strapped in currently,’’ the publicist’s news release said, People magazine reported. ‘A sensor triggered a ride delay,’ the Circuit of the Americas told Fox News Digital in a statement Saturday. ‘It was resolved, and the ride proceeded without incident.'” (12/20/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/two-riders-trapped-dangling-100-feet-air-after-texas-roller-coaster-malfunctions-circuit-americas
-----
18) NY: Stefanik drops out of governor’s race, won’t seek reelection to Congress
Source: United Press International
“Republican U.S. House Rep. Elise Stefanik on Friday announced she was ending her run for New York governor after 1 1/2 months and won’t seek another term in Congress. On Nov. 7, Stefanik launched a campaign bid in an effort to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in November 2026. ‘While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress,’ Stefanik, 41, wrote on X. … Stefanik has represented the rural conservative upstate New York district since 2014, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at that time.” (12/19/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/12/19/NY-Elise-Stefanik-drops-out-governors-race/5811766183265/
-----
19) CA: Waymo temporarily suspends service in San Francisco amid power outage
Source: SFGate
“Waymo halted service in San Francisco as of Saturday at 8 p.m., following a power outage that left approximately 30% of the city without power. The autonomous cars have been causing traffic jams throughout the city, as the vehicles seem unable to function without traffic signals. ‘We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,’ Suzanne Philion, a Waymo spokesperson told SFGATE via email Saturday night. ‘We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.’ Pedestrians posted videos on X Saturday of Waymo cars stuck at intersections with their lights flashing. The widespread power outage is affecting around San Francisco 130,000 customers and began as early as 9:40 a.m. in parts of the city.” (12/20/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/waymo-temporarily-suspends-service-sf-amid-power-21254917.php
-----
20) France: Court rejects regime’s request to suspend Shein
Source: Deutsche Welle [Germany]
“A Paris court on Friday rejected the French government’s request to suspend Chinese online platform Shein. The government made the request for a three-month suspension after public outcry sparked by the presence on the platform of child-like sex dolls and other illicit items. Besides child-like sex dolls, illegal weapons and banned medications were also found on the platform. The court said in its Friday ruling that suspending Shein would have been ‘disproportionate,’ as the offending products had been removed from the platform.” (12/19/25)
https://www.dw.com/en/france-court-rejects-request-to-suspend-shein/a-75247011
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Peace President? Yeah, Right.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“On December 17, surrounded by festive holiday decorations, US president Donald Trump delivered an upbeat — one might even say manic — address to the nation …. While many expected something weighty (perhaps announcement of further military escalation versus Venezuela), what they got was laundry list of Trump’s ‘accomplishments’ since his inauguration in January. Most of those ‘accomplishments’ — ruinous tariffs on American consumers, immoral and economically damaging immigration raids, etc. — were things we already knew about from watching our bank balances draw inexorably down. One, however, stood out to me as the most risible. ‘For the first time in 3,000 years,’ Trump said, he’s brought ‘peace to the Middle East.’ He said that, with as close to a straight face as he ever shows, hours after saluting the flag-draped caskets of two US National Guard members and a civilian interpreter killed in Syria the previous week.” (12/20/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20208
-----
22) Not What He Seems
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Cicero offered a useful piece of advice: Esse quam videri — ‘be rather than seem,’ that the important thing is to be virtuous or good or successful or courageous rather than merely to appear to be. Trump has spent his life turning that on its head: He was a middling businessman who was in bankruptcy court a lot more often than he was at the top of the game, so he spent years playing a successful businessman on television. He cannot write an ordinary good English sentence, but he paid someone to write a book and put his name on it. His imaginary friend John Barron would call writers at the New York Post and other outlets to tell them silly lies about everything from Trump’s business successes to his dating life. And, of course, he emblazons his name on things — most recently, the Kennedy Center.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/NhkN0
-----
23) At the Movies, But for How Long?
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Daniel Nuccio
“It seems strange thinking about Kill Bill in 2025 the way people did about Lawrence of Arabia or The Godfather in 2003, but they just don’t make movies like that anymore and it’s hard to imagine something like Kill Bill getting made in recent years by anyone other than someone with Tarantino’s clout. … Unlike films released between 2016-2024, Kill Bill never felt beholden to some woke Hays Code requiring films to conform to the delicate sensibilities of a thirty-five-year old cat mom with a grievance studies degree.” (12/20/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/at-the-movies-but-for-how-long/
-----
24) The Infinite Reopening of History
Source: Quillette
by John Aziz
“Over the past year, a new ideological framework, which I’ll call neo-decolonialism, has been taking hold in activist, academic, and political discourse. This framework has the potential to reopen and reinflame a vast number of conflicts. This is where slogans like ‘globalise the intifada’ ultimately lead — to a world in which no political settlement is ever final, and no peace is durable. It’s important to make a clear distinction between actual decolonisation and what I am calling neo-decolonialism. Real decolonisation was a concrete, historically specific process in which empires withdrew from territories they had been administering, as exemplified by the end of the Raj. … neo-decolonialism is not about dismantling real empires …. Instead, it retroactively reclassifies political arrangements as ‘colonial’ based on contemporary group dynamics, racial or ethnic categories (e.g. ‘whiteness’), and the question of which side has the most power.” (12/20/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/12/20/the-infinite-reopening-of-history-activism-decolonisation/
-----
25) The real reason to commemorate Hanukkah
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“The amazing thing about Hanukkah is that despite the past mistakes and the mess the ancient Israelis got themselves into, there were a few (indeed a remnant of a remnant: the proverbial three percent, perhaps) who were able to figure out and take successful action to recover and preserve their nation, their people, their religion, and their culture. And thereby set the stage for the rest of human history to our day. Even though those same Maccabean rebels turned around and did exactly the same things that had led to the mess they got out of. And indeed, started making the same mistakes that their oppressors, the Selucids, had made in abusing the Jews.” (12/20/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/12/20/the-real-reason-to-commemorate-hanukkah/
-----
26) A Possible Strategy for Stopping War on Venezuela
Source: Common Dreams
by Kevin Young
“Few believe the justifications for the ongoing US murder campaign, and now military blockade, off the coast of Venezuela. Even US officials seem halfheartedly committed to their claims about stopping drugs. They now concede that the real goal is overthrowing the Venezuelan government and recovering ‘our oil,’ which was mistakenly buried under Venezuelan soil. If they succeed there, they will surely escalate violence against Cuba and perhaps other noncompliant governments. The larger goal, proclaims the US secretary of defense, is the ‘restoration of our power and prerogatives in this hemisphere.’ That entails reasserting ‘US military dominance in the Western Hemisphere’ and with it the ‘access to key terrain throughout the region’ — that is, markets and resources like our oil. In the meantime, if blowing up boats can also divert attention from domestic scandals, that’s a bonus.” (12/20/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/strategy-stop-venezuela-war
-----
27) Immigrants didn’t cause America’s trucking crisis — Washington did
Source: The Hill
by Bhupinder Kaur
“Federal regulators have created a trucking crisis — and they did it by ignoring their own evidence, bypassing basic safeguards and targeting a workforce that has kept America moving through every national emergency of the past decade. In September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an interim final rule that effectively bars most lawfully present, work-authorized immigrant drivers from obtaining, renewing or maintaining non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. The rule limits eligibility to just three visa categories — H-2A, H-2B and E-2 — while excluding refugees, asylees, DACA recipients and other federally authorized workers who have long been able to drive using a valid employment authorization document. These drivers meet every federal safety requirement, pass the same tests, satisfy the same medical standards and comply with the same drug-and-alcohol protocols as every other CDL holder. Yet FMCSA is treating immigration category as a disqualifying risk.” (12/20/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5656703-fmcsa-rule-immigrant-truckers/
-----
28) The Fundamental Pivot of Humanity
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Two million years ago, give or take, there was a fundamental and unexplained change in the archaeological record. Since then our progress has come far faster than it should have according to evolutionary theory, leaving scientists perplexed. … pre-2 million BC skulls (homo habilis and prior) have ridges at the eyebrow level, and that the skulls go directly backward from there. That is, they have no forehead. Beginning at homo ergaster and homo erectus, however – that being roughly two million years ago – the skulls begin to rise in their fronts. … Human brains feature an enormous prefrontal cortex. This is the structure that allows us to do all the massively advanced things we do. And this structure could not fit into our skulls without that high forehead; the prefrontal cortex fills precisely that new space.” (12/20/25)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/the-fundamental-pivot-of-humanity
-----
29) For Ukraine and Taiwan, dissuasion in strength
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“With calm resolve, the United States and the European Union have each made decisions in recent days showing a firm watchfulness against big-power aggression. Neither will receive a Nobel Peace Prize for its actions – Alfred Nobel’s idea of a secure world did not include military deterrence. Yet together, the U.S. and EU have at least helped make war a bit more unthinkable. On Dec. 17, the Trump administration approved the largest-ever U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Congress is expected to approve the $11.1 billion weapons package, especially after the House Select Committee on China issued a report Thursday calling for ‘unambiguous’ opposition to Beijing’s moves toward an invasion of the self-governing democratic island.” (12/19/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1219/For-Ukraine-and-Taiwan-dissuasion-in-strength
-----
30) A War No American Needs: Confrontation with Venezuela Brings Neither Security nor Benefit
Source: Antiwar.com
by Greg Pence
The United States finds itself at a moment when the gap between power and prudence has rarely been more visible. As American society grapples with structural inflation, deep social fragmentation, a crisis of institutional credibility, and the steady erosion of public trust, renewed talk of military confrontation with Venezuela is once again circulating within Washington’s political and security circles. In recent months, this rhetoric has intensified, driven in part by President Donald Trump and influential figures around him – most notably Senator Marco Rubio – who have pushed an increasingly confrontational line toward Caracas, bringing the country closer to the threshold of conflict. These developments are not the product of a genuine threat, but rather reflect a dangerous habit in U.S. foreign policy: transforming domestic deadlock into external military adventure.” (12/19/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/greg_pence/2025/12/18/a-war-no-american-needs-confrontation-with-venezuela-brings-neither-security-nor-benefit/
-----
31) Brace for (and blame Congress for) another looming government shutdown
Source: New York Post
by staff
“Brace for another government shutdown early in the new year …. The short-term funding bill that Democrats finally allowed to pass last month, ending the record-long shutdown, only runs through Jan. 30. The federal Fiscal Year 2026 started Oct. 1 this year, yet the House and Senate have so far passed only three of the 12 appropriations bills to fund various parts of the government. And they’re not even close on the other nine; they’d need a Christmas miracle to get it done in time. And it’ll be brutally hard to pass yet another stopgap bill, or alternately another ‘omnibus’ to cover everything through next Oct. 1: Too many Republicans are sick of these contraptions, while too few Democrats are willing to give the GOP any help at all.” [editor’s note: The Democrats didn’t have to “allow” the funding bill to pass; the Republicans could have passed it without their help at any time – TLK] (12/20/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/20/opinion/brace-for-and-blame-congress-for-another-looming-government-shutdown/
-----
32) Online Gaming’s Final Boss: The Copyright Bully
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Corynne McSherry & Kit Walsh
“Since earliest days of computer games, people have tinkered with the software to customize their own experiences or share their vision with others. From the dad who changed the game’s male protagonist to a girl so his daughter could see herself in it, to the developers who got their start in modding, games have been a medium where you don’t just consume a product, you participate and interact with culture. For decades, that participatory experience was a key part of one of the longest-running video games still in operation: Everquest. Players had the official client, acquired lawfully from EverQuest’s developers, and modders figured out how to enable those clients to communicate with their own servers and then modify their play experience – creating new communities along the way. Everquest’s copyright owners implicitly blessed all this. But the current owners, a private equity firm called Daybreak, want to end that independent creativity.” (12/19/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/online-gamings-final-boss-copyright-bully
-----
33) If Israel Gets To Undermine Our Rights, Then We Get To Undermine Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“You are allowed to subvert and undermine Israel’s interests, because Israel is trying to subvert and undermine your rights. You are allowed to interfere in Israel’s affairs, because Israel is interfering in your country’s affairs. As Israel tries to exert more and more influence over western society and pushes western governments to crush our freedom of speech and assembly, we should be doing everything we can to make sure that western society turns against Israel, and that western governments alienate this freakish apartheid state on the world stage. And we should feel perfectly entitled in doing so, because Israel certainly feels comfortable coming after us and our rights. If Israel is going after us, then we get to go after Israel. It’s just basic self-defense at this point.” (12/21/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/21/if-israel-gets-to-undermine-our-rights-then-we-get-to-undermine-israel/
-----
34) Protecting a Societal Cancer with a Web of Lies
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Patrick Barron
“There is a deadly cancer that is eating away at Western society — welfare. It is supported by a web of lies that are so pervasive that no one dare question them. Two of the most ingrained are: * There is no substitute for helping the unfortunate than government-provided welfare on demand; *The monetary stimulus from welfare spending adds to aggregate demand and helps to stimulate the economy.” (12/19/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/protecting-societal-cancer-web-lies
-----
35) Notes on Anarcho-Capitalism
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“I’m pretty sure I won’t be around long enough to see anarcho-capitalism — or what I call market-ordered anarchism — prevail in the United States. I’m just as sure that I won’t see government strictly limited to protecting individual rights and never violating them (if that’s coherent). So that’s a wash. But it doesn’t follow that discussing individualist, pro-property, free-market alternatives to the current, virtually out-of-control political system in America is time wasted. Far from it! If we want to progress toward liberty, we’d better get a move on.” (12/19/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/12/tgif-notes-on-anarcho-capitalism.html
-----
36) How Productivity Advances
Source: EconLog
by Arnold Kling
“One interesting source of efficiency is removing unnecessary steps in the production process. For example, in an assembly line, if you raise the conveyor belt, the workers will not have to bend and lift objects. Modern writers often use scare quotes to describe ‘scientific management’ or ‘Taylorism,’ creating the impression that time-and-motion studies were instruments of oppression aimed at individual workers. But from Potter I learned that time-and-motion studies were used to discover ways to improve manufacturing processes. Raising the height of the conveyor belt is an example of scientific management that is a win-win for workers and for the manufacturer.” (12/19/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/klingproductivity
-----
37) Like the Iraq War, but Worse
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Chait
“Trump did not oppose the Iraq War at the time, but he did present himself as a critic after it went south. His most consistent reason for his opposition was that America had failed to seize Iraq’s oil, despite the fact that doing so would have been a war crime. … Trump has long benefited from his contrast with the second Bush administration’s failed experiments with nation building. He has dismissed his Republican critics as neoconservatives, and some left-wing populists credit him for moving his party away from Bush-style interventionism. Yet Trump’s saber-rattling against Venezuela confirms that his argument with neoconservatism was never about the hubris of exporting democracy or a faith in pacifistic leadership. Trump’s main complaint about Bush was that he squandered an opportunity to enrich the U.S. by caring too much about international law and the dignity of the Iraqi people.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/SK238
-----
38) Why Trump’s blue slip blues aren’t Grassley’s fault
Source: Fox News
by Mike Davis
“President Trump is rightfully angry that some of his top choices for U.S. attorneys in Democrat-controlled states are being blocked by Democrats and their leftist allies in the judicial branch. But the recent attacks from some supporters of the president against Sen. Chuck Grassley, Trump’s most effective ally in the Senate, are misplaced. To start, remember who Grassley is. He’s a dignified statesman but also a shrewd legislator, fearless investigator and Senate workhorse. He doesn’t chase the limelight but quietly puts one win after the other on the scoreboard for Trump and his MAGA agenda. This isn’t bluster. Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices, and two were carried squarely on the shoulders of Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.” (12/19/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-davis-why-trumps-blue-slip-blues-arent-grassleys-fault
-----
39) Palestine: Israeli Forces Murder Six at Wedding Celebration
Source: Common Dreams
“Funerals were held Saturday in northern Gaza for six people, including children, massacred the previous day by Israeli tank fire during a wedding celebration at a school sheltering displaced people, as the number of Palestinians killed during the tenuous 10-week ceasefire rose to over 400. On Friday, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank blasted the second floor of the Gaza Martyrs School, which was housing Palestinians displaced by the two-year war on Gaza in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City. Al Jazeera and other news outlets reported that the attack occurred while people were celebrating a wedding. Al-Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abou Salmiya said those slain included a 4-month-old infant, a 14-year-old girl, and two women. At least five others were injured in the attack.” (12/20/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-school-shelter-massacre
-----
40) Military contractors reap big profits in war-to-homeland pipeline
SourceS: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst
“By leveraging the dual-use nature of many of their products, where defense technologies can be integrated into the commercial sector and vice versa, Pentagon contractors like Palantir, Skydio, and General Atomics have gained ground at home for surveillance technologies — especially drones — proliferating war-tested military tech within the domestic sphere.” (12/19/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/domestic-war-tech/
-----
41) Epstein and the Clintons: As Hillary Launched Presidential Campaign, Epstein Feared Exposure
Source: Drop Site
by Ryan Grim & Murtaza Hussain
“Since Jeffrey Epstein’s second arrest in 2019, the Clintons have spent considerable effort distancing themselves from the enigmatic financier, and they are currently fending off House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, who threatened contempt proceedings after the political power couple refused to testify this week regarding their relationship to Epstein. … Yet as Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign ramped up, it was Epstein looking to duck the Clintons. Epstein was facing increasingly dire legal consequences in South Florida, stemming from his years-long sexual exploitation of young women and girls. The glare of a presidential campaign risked unraveling what Epstein and his friend and ally Ghislaine Maxwell had so effectively constructed over the years, as they were increasingly associated with the spectacle of ‘Clintonworld.'” (12/19/25)
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-hillary-bill-clinton-ghislaine-maxwell
-----
42) How The New Yorker Became Irrelevant
Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn
“On the decline of America’s premier magazine.” (12/19/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-the-new-yorker-lost-its-soul
-----
43) Why Trump’s “peace deals” keep unraveling
Source: Washington Post
by Keith B Richburg
“Signing a ceasefire deal before the cameras is usually just the beginning. Changing the realities on the ground — and getting combatants to lay down their weapons — requires a more sustained level of follow-through and commitment. It’s a lesson to keep in mind as Trump aims for what would be the grandest peace deal of all: an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war about to enter its fourth bloody year. The Ukraine war is itself the product of entering into flimsy peace agreements and not following through.” (12/19/25)
https://archive.is/UJcfQ
-----
44) Unchecked Waters: The Constitutional Crisis of Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
Source: Common Dreams
by Angel Gomez
“On 16 December, 2025, President Donald Trump announced what he called ‘a total and complete blockade’ of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. Delivered via his personal media platform, the statement was sweeping in its implications. Trump declared that Venezuela was ‘completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America’, and he made clear this would not end until all Venezuelan ‘oil, land, and other assets’ were returned to the United States. But beneath the dramatic language lies a far more dangerous truth: this action marks a breach of US constitutional limits, a perilous expansion of executive authority, and a break with both legal precedent and historical norms of dispute resolution. At its core, this naval blockade (undeclared, unauthorized, and now operational) poses a direct challenge to the War Powers Resolution, a congressional statute designed specifically to prevent precisely this kind of unilateral military escalation.” (12/20/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/unchecked-waters-the-constitutional-crisis-of-trumps-venezuela-oil-blockade
-----
45) Netflix’s Ownership of Warner Bros. Would Change Filmmaking Incentives
Source: Independent Institute
by Matthew B Crawford
“However, the ownership of Warner Bros. shakes out, it is worth thinking about the intuitions that caused people in the film and television business to freak out about the prospect of Netflix taking over a major studio. Last Thursday, a group of top film producers and other industry players sent a joint letter to congressional representatives, urging them to block the deal. It was published anonymously for fear of retaliation by Netflix and expressed skepticism that films produced under Netflix would continue to be released in theatres, despite Netflix’s assurances. The film industry group pointed out that Netflix’s incentives are such that they do not want people sitting in theatres, as this represents time not spent on the platform. The industry letter suggests the whole ecosystem of Hollywood would be put at risk with this deal, and the survival of an art form would be put in doubt.” (12/19/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/19/netflixs-ownership-warner-bros-filmmaking-incentives/
-----
46) Stop Fixating on CEO Pay Ratios and Start Fixing Labor Markets
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Eye-catching statistics about executive compensation tell us nothing about fairness, and distract from the real drivers of wage growth and worker prosperity.” (12/19/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/stop-fixating-on-ceo-pay-ratios-and-start-fixing-labor-markets/
-----
47) Medicaid’s Wake-Up Call
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Elias Tsapelas
“Over the past several months, I’ve written about the many changes coming to Missouri’s welfare programs as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). One of the most impactful changes involves the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In short, if Missouri doesn’t get its SNAP payment error rate below 6%, state taxpayers will start paying for a portion of the program’s benefit costs (the federal government currently covers 100% of benefits), which could potentially increase the state taxpayer cost to $400 million per year. A similar change is coming to Medicaid.” (12/19/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/health-care/medicaids-wake-up-call/
-----
48) Against Against Boomers
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Hating Boomers is the new cool thing. … ‘You don’t hate Boomers enough’ has become a popular Twitter catchphrase. Richard Hanania, who has tried hating every group once, has decided that hating Boomers is his favorite. Some people might say we just experienced a historic upwelling of identity politics, that it was pretty terrible for everyone involved, and that perhaps we need a new us-vs-them conflict like we need a punch to the face. This, the Boomer-haters will tell you, would be a mistaken generalization. This time, we have finally discovered a form of identity politics which carves reality at its joints, truly separating the good and bad people. I think these arguments fall short. Even if they didn’t, the usual bias against identity politics should make us think twice about pursuing them too zealously.” (12/19/25)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/against-against-boomers
-----
49) Time For the GOP to Grow A Pair On Health Care
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“It seems like a lifetime ago, mostly because it was, when I was a health policy analyst at a conservative think tank. During my interview for the job, my future boss said something true then, and it still rings true today: On the issue of health care, Democrats are evil and Republicans are stupid. While Republicans are, generally, stupid on health care, it doesn’t have to be that way. Republican Members of Congress view health care as ‘a Democrat issue,’ much the way Democrats view national defense as a Republican one. It’s not like they can’t understand the issues involved, it’s that they’re afraid to – they’re afraid to get out over their skis. They have the mental capacity, but more content in the back of their underpants than the front to really engage with it.” (12/21/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/12/21/time-for-the-gop-to-grow-a-pair-on-health-care-n2668248
-----
50) The Trials Of An Unpopular Populist
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan
“You very rarely see President Trump address the nation the way presidents used to. You know the drill: seated at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, talking candidly and intimately to the American people. Trump tried it with Covid in 2020 and it didn’t quite work. Stiff, awkward, rote, interspersed with sniffs, it’s a bit sad in retrospect. He just can’t do intimacy. He can’t do reassurance. His fireside manner has always been gasoline. This is a real weakness for a president, who may, from time to time, be required to comfort — as Clinton did after the Oklahoma bombing, Bush after 9/11, and Obama after the church mass shooting in Charleston. It’s also a serious flaw if you need to rally people in tough or challenging times. But Trump just can’t do that. He can do other things. But not that.” (12/19/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-trials-of-an-unpopular-populist-e64
-----
51) Remembering Rob Reiner’s Masterpiece
Source: Law & Liberty
by Titus Techera
“Reiner deserves to be remembered because he inspired great affection in millions and millions of people, for, as of now, two generations. Since it’s Christmas, it would be best to remember him by going back to The Princess Bride, which is less of its time than the other movies and more fitting for a family viewing. … More than the funny dialogue or the irony of pointing out the structure of a fairy tale, what makes The Princess Bride such a clever story is the skill with which it brings out what it feels like to be a boy.” (12/19/25)
https://lawliberty.org/remembering-rob-reiners-masterpiece/
-----
52) Capability-based budgeting: A practical roadmap for getting started
Source: Niskanen Center
by Solitaire Carroll
“Capability-based budgeting is not a wholesale reorganization. It’s a way of making the budget legible: first to yourself, then to leadership, then to oversight. Capability-based budgeting is an approach to budgeting that can apply to any kind of team — whether or not you are providing direct support to public facing or mission critical work. You can begin with a single portfolio, a single project, or even a single conversation about what outcomes your team is truly accountable for. Below is a practical roadmap for getting started, based on real federal implementations and the lessons learned along the way.” (12/19/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/capability-based-budgeting-a-practical-roadmap-for-getting-started/
-----
53) How the Charter School Industry’s Newest Scheme Could Be “the Death of Public Schools”
Source: CounterPunch
by Jeff Bryant
“The letters started coming in October 2025. In the first wave, according to the Florida Policy Institute (FPI), “at least 22 school districts in Florida” got letters alerting them that charter school operators, including a for-profit charter school management company based in Miami, intended to use a state law recently enacted to open new charter schools on the campuses of existing public schools beginning August 2027. … With school enrollments in steep decline in nearly every district in the state, fear of a potential mass charter school industry takeover of public school spaces—along with the costs local districts will incur—looms over district leaders across the state and strikes them as a clear existential threat.” [editor’s note: Not sure how this is a bad thing. It exposes “charter schools” as what they are (part of the “public education” monopoly), meaning that monopoly might die off more quickly – TLK] (12/19/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/19/how-the-charter-school-industrys-newest-scheme-could-be-the-death-of-public-schools/
-----
54) Jeffries Undercuts Congressional Stock Trading Ban
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“Last week, I reported on concerns that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was discouraging support for a bipartisan discharge petition to finally advance the exceedingly popular policy of ending congressional stock trading. Discharge petitions signed by a majority of House members get a guaranteed floor vote. The speculation was that Jeffries would rather keep the concept of a trading ban alive for campaigning (and maybe protect Democrats who want to keep trading) than take advantage of the ongoing rebellion against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to make tangible progress. I would say this is wholly confirmed now. The Democratic leadership is filing their own discharge petition on a stock trading ban, countering one from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) that has 74 signatures, including 15 Republicans, more than enough for a House majority if all Democrats sign on.” (12/19/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/19/jeffries-undercuts-congressional-stock-trading-ban/
-----
55) Ukrainian Security Guarantees Are Dangerous and Counterproductive
Source: The American Conservative
by Josh Shifrinson
“A security guarantee for Ukraine is a terrible idea. Even as it would reverse Trump’s long-standing opposition to further enmeshing the United States with Ukraine, a guarantee carries a range of dangers for the United States, Ukraine, and the European NATO allies while delivering few benefits. Whether offered as part of a peace deal or ceasefire, the guarantee may do little to deter Russia. Further, should a conflict break out, the arrangement is poised to trigger a fundamental crisis in U.S.–European relations. Above all, the guarantee promises to complicate rather than ameliorate Ukraine’s own understandable desire to find security for itself in the shadow of its Russian neighbor.” (12/19/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/ukrainian-security-guarantees-are-dangerous-and-counterproductive/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
56) Reason Interview: Keonne Rodriguez
Source: Reason
“Keonne Rodriguez explains why he built a bitcoin privacy tool, discusses the federal charges that sent him to prison this week, and warns that his case could redefine the legal boundaries of financial privacy.” (12/19/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/19/hes-serving-5-years-in-prison-for-bitcoin-privacy-software/
-----
57) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 12/19/25
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Remembering ‘free-thinking’ writer Nat Hentoff.” (12/19/25)
https://www.thefire.org/news/podcasts/so-speak-free-speech-podcast/remembering-free-thinking-writer-nat-hentoff
-----
58) In The Tank Podcast, episode 522
Source: Heartland Institute
“The Future of Movies.” (12/19/25)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/the-future-of-movies-in-the-tank-podcast-522/
-----
59) Rising, 12/19/25
Source: The Hill
“Niall Stanage and Amber Duke discuss the latest in the Brown University shooting where police say the man they believe to be the gunman in last Sunday’s deadly mass shooting has apparently been found dead.” (12/19/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5656795-rising-december-19-2025/
-----
50) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 12/19/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Press Sec Goes Full Cult as Brutal New Fox Poll Hits Him Hard.” (12/19/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/204630/trump-press-sec-goes-full-cult-brutal-new-fox-poll-hits-hard
-----
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 12/19/25
Source: Freedom Works
“Ryan Young, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Trump’s Economic Address.'” (12/19/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-12-20_zfw12192025.mp3
-----
62) The Intercept Briefing, 12/19/25
Source: The Intercept
“Deportation, Inc.” (12/19/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/19/deportation-abrego-garcia-ice-immigration/
-----
63) Conflicts of Interest, episode 860
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Zelensky’s Demands for Ending the War.” (12/19/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/zelenskys-demands-for-ending-the-war-coi-860
-----
54) Bulwark Takes, 12/19/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Epstein Files Released, Elise Stefanik Quits.” (12/19/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwhFD0NTdA
-----
65) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2719
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Covid Justice? Here’s a Step.” (12/19/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2719-covid-justice-heres-a-step/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
https://liberty-intl.org/join-the-movement/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages