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04/14 -- Ecuador: Noboa declared presidential election winner as rival demands recount; Tax Form Vocabulary: The Fifth Leg
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Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 14, 2025, 6:21:10 AMApr 14
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/14/25
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ecuador: Noboa declared presidential election winner as rival demands recount
2) Ukraine war: At least 31 killed in Russian strike on Sumy
3) PA: Suspect arrested after arson attack on governor’s residence
4) Palestine: Israeli forces bomb Gaza hospital
5) Trump exempts phones, computers from tariff idiocy
6) Dog bites man: Mangione’s attorneys notice Bondi’s death penalty play is “a political stunt”
7) Pope Francis Makes Brief Appearance After Palm Sunday Service
8) Nigeria: Roadside bomb kills eight bus passengers
9) UK: Regime OKs theft of British Steel’s Chinese-owned Scunthorpe plant
10) Hong Kong: Biggest pro-democracy party gets mandate to move closer to disbandment
11) Ambassador does not deny Russian attempts to track UK subs
12) Law firms pledge almost $1 billion in free work to Trump
13) Iran, US hold “positive” talks in Oman, agree to resume next week
14) Australia: Prime minister’s party launches election campaign
15) Study: Three million child deaths linked to drug resistance
16) US mortgage rates surge over 7% as tariffs hit bond market
17) CA: Massive nude woman sculpture sparks reaction after public unveiling
18) Tanzania: Top opposition party disqualified from polls, election commission says
19) Hong Kong: Beijing puppet regime refuses entry to UK MP
20) FL: Resident shoots, kills apparently unintentional intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Tax Form Vocabulary: The Fifth Leg
22) There’s No Coming Back From Trump’s Tariff Disaster
23) Two Cheers for Extended Tax Cuts and an IRS in Chaos
24) Understanding the Trump Show
25) Tariffs and the Constitution
26) In tariff tiffs, the art of compromise
27) God, Hell and Moral Realism
28) Supreme Court Slaps Down Trump’s Deportation Overreach: Why Due Process Matters
29) On AI And Consciousness
30) An Open Letter To Jay Bhattacharya, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and J.D. Vance
31) Trump Iran talks could herald the biggest Mid-East reformation of our lifetime
32) The Limits of Immanent Critique
33) By Moving Communications to X, Trump & Musk Renew Attack [sic] on Social Security
34) The terrible arguments coming from Trump’s tariff defenders
35) The Emperor’s New Tariffs
36) Yes, It’s Fascism
37) Fighting the Ideological Lie
38) Tariff mania shows why no one person can run an economy
39) Donald Trump Is Raising Your Taxes, and Republicans Won’t Stop Him
40) You Don’t Need to Have All the Answers Before You Start
41) Could Jay Powell Restrain Trump?
42) European rearmament: Shuffling fake money around a monopoly board?
43) The Trade Derangement Syndrome
44) From Son of the Revolution to Old Man Eloquent
45) Sorry Dems, literally nobody believes married women can’t get IDs
46) Retaliatory Tariffs? Again?
47) Is Free Trade the Catalyst that Can Lead Us to Freedom?
48) How Universities Can Save Themselves
49) Unions Without Strikes
50) Resisting Invasion
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Serious Trouble, 04/12/25
52) The Anarchist Experience, episode 523
53) Quillette Podcast, episode 280
54) Unattended Baggage, episode 289
55) The Good Fight, 04/12/25
56) Free Talk Live, 04/12/25
57) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2631
58) Conflicts of Interest, episode 784
59) Freakonomics Radio, episode 629
60) Nonzero, 04/11/25
61) Ted Snider on The Scott Horton Show
62) The Bryan Hyde Show, 04/11/25
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/11/25
64) Brian Wilson Speaks, 04/11/25
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/11/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ecuador: Noboa declared presidential election winner as rival demands recount
Source: CNN
“Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa won the country’s presidential election on Sunday based on preliminary results, an electoral official said, as his main rival demanded a recount of the vote following a race overshadowed by drug-fueled violence that has consumed the once-peaceful South American country. Noboa, a conservative, has made fighting crime and economic revitalization two of his main goals — summed up in the slogan ‘New Ecuador’ — as he faces, among other challenges, violence by criminal groups and an energy crisis that has caused constant blackouts in the country. With 90% of the ballots counted, the trend in favor of Noboa is irreversible and he is considered the winner, National Electoral Council president Diana Atamaint told a press conference Sunday. But Noboa’s closest challenger, leftist lawyer Luisa González, said she rejected the results and demanded a recount.” (04/13/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/13/americas/ecuador-vote-noboa-gonzalez-latam-intl/index.html
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2) Ukraine war: At least 31 killed in Russian strike on Sumy
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“At least 31 people have been killed and dozens injured in a Russian ballistic missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people were going to church for Palm Sunday. Two missiles landed in the crowded city centre. One hit a trolley bus full of passengers. Footage from the scene showed bodies lying in the street, burning cars, and rescuers carrying bloodied survivors. Two of the dead were children. … Sumy is 15 miles (25km) from the border with Russia and is a Ukrainian military hub. The missiles landed in a downtown civilian area where many people carrying willow branches for Palm Sunday were on their way to church.” (04/13/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/13/russian-missile-strike-kills-injured-ukraine-sumy
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3) PA: Suspect arrested after arson attack on governor’s residence
Source: Axios
“A suspect was arrested over a fire at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) Harrisburg residence that forced the governor and his family to evacuate early Sunday, officials said in the evening. The suspect was found with ‘homemade’ incendiary devices, Pennsylvania State Police deputy commissioner George Bivens said at a Sunday evening briefing. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, will face charges including attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault against an enumerated person, Pennsylvania District Attorney Fran Chardo said at the briefing.” (04/13/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/13/shapiro-arsonist-fire-governors-residence
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4) Palestine: Israeli forces bomb Gaza hospital
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli forces have bombed al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the largest remaining functioning hospital in northern Gaza. Critically ill patients were left on the street after fleeing the attack in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to the Reuters news agency, the hospital staff began evacuating patients from the building after a man said he received a call from someone identifying himself with Israeli security, shortly before the attack. Authorities in Gaza have condemned the bombing, noting that al-Ahli Hospital was treating hundreds of patients when it was hit by at least two missiles. … Israel has repeatedly attacked hospitals in the Palestinian enclave with impunity throughout its devastating war – according to the Government Media Office in Gaza, Israel has targeted 36 hospitals since October 2023.” (04/13/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/13/israeli-forces-bomb-al-ahli-hospital-in-gaza-forcing-patients-to-flee
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5) Trump exempts phones, computers from tariff idiocy
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump is exempting [American buyers of] smartphones, computers and more electronics from his global reciprocal [sic] tariffs after a tumultuous week in the markets due to his global trade war. A guidance published by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection late Friday exempted [American buyers of] these consumer electronics — many are manufactured in China — from Trump’s back-and-forth tariff escalation with China and the 10 percent global tariff. Machines used to make semiconductors will also be exempt. While these electronics won’t be subject to the escalating tariff rate Trump levied this week in a back-and-forth with China, these goods still could be hit with a significant duty if made there.” (04/12/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/12/trump-china-tariffs-smartphone-00008349
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6) Dog bites man: Mangione’s attorneys notice Bondi’s death penalty play is “a political stunt”
Source: MSNBC
“Luigi Mangione’s attorneys have asked a federal court to block the government from seeking the death penalty in his case, saying that the manner in which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the government’s intentions was ‘political and arbitrary.’ In a court filing Friday, Mangione’s attorneys argued that the government breached the protocol for seeking the death penalty, prejudicing the case and the potential grand jury pool. They pointed to three of Bondi’s public statements about Mangione: her April 1 press release announcing she directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty; a post on her newly created Instagram account that painted Mangione, who has not yet been indicted on federal charges, ‘as guilty of murder;’ and a Fox News appearance in which she talked about Mangione’s federal case.” (04/13/25)
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/luigi-mangione-death-penalty-pam-bondi-federal-case-political-stunt-rcna200990
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7) Pope Francis Makes Brief Appearance After Palm Sunday Service
Source: US News & World Report
“Pope Francis made a brief appearance in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday at the end of a Palm Sunday service, greeting the crowds from his wheelchair as he continues to recover from double pneumonia. ‘Happy Palm Sunday, Happy Holy Week,’ the pope said, before once returning inside the Vatican, stopping occasionally to talk with the faithful, including a group of delighted nuns. Unlike last Sunday, when he made his first public appearance since being discharged from hospital three weeks ago, the pope was not receiving oxygen via a small hose under his nose. Francis, 88, was discharged from hospital on March 23 after spending five weeks being treated for the lung infection, which his doctor later said had nearly killed him.” (04/13/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-13/pope-francis-makes-brief-appearance-after-palm-sunday-service
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8) Nigeria: Roadside bomb kills eight bus passengers
Source: ABC News
“A roadside bomb suspected to have been planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria struck a passenger bus, killing eight people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said. The bus was traveling along the Damboa-Maiduguri highway in the conflict-battered Borno state on Saturday when it drove over the explosive device, Borno state police spokesman Nahum Daso said in a statement. Islamic extremists with the Boko Haram group took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. The conflict, Africa’s longest struggle with militancy, has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors and has left some 35,000 civilians dead and more than 2 million displaced, according to the U.N.” (04/13/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bomb-kills-8-bus-passengers-northeast-nigeria-120760100
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9) UK: Regime OKs theft of British Steel’s Chinese-owned Scunthorpe plant
Source: United Press International
“The U.K. Parliament authorized the government to seize control of the Chinese-owned British Steel plant in Scunthorpe to prevent its closure and the loss of up to 2,700 jobs. Members of Parliament approved a government takeover of the steel plant that is owned by Chinese firm Jingye during an emergency session Saturday morning to stop its owners from shutting down two blast furnaces and ending steel production in the United Kingdom, the BBC reported. The British government and Jingye officials had been negotiating to keep the steel plant open, but those talks broke down, which triggered Saturday’s emergency session of Parliament.” (04/12/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/04/12/uk-british-steel-plant-seized/4781744504263/
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10) Hong Kong: Biggest pro-democracy party gets mandate to move closer to disbandment
Source: ABC News
“Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy party on Sunday received its members’ mandate to proceed with steps toward a potential disbandment, part of the erosion of political freedoms as China cracks down on dissent in the southern city. Democratic Party Chairman Lo Kin-hei said over 90% of the members who took part in the vote supported the motion to let the central committee take up the procedure toward disbandment. He said he hopes there will be a final vote in the coming months. The party’s decision reflects the dwindling semi-autonomy and freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to China’s rule in 1997. The moderate political party has effectively become a pressure group, members say.” (04/13/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hong-kongs-biggest-pro-democracy-party-gets-mandate-120759749
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11) Ambassador does not deny Russian attempts to track UK subs
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Russia’s ambassador to the UK has not denied allegations that Russian sensors have been hidden in seas around Great Britain in an attempt to track UK nuclear submarines. Andrei Kelin said that while he did not deny Russia was attempting to track British submarines, he rejected the idea that such activities presented a threat to the UK. Asked on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg whether he objected to the claims, Kelin said: ‘No.’ ‘I am not going to deny it, but I wonder whether we really have an interest in following all the British submarine with very old outdated nuclear warheads… all these threats are extremely exaggerated,’ he said. Pressed further by Kuenssberg, the ambassador added: ‘I’m denying existence of threats for the United Kingdom. This threat has been invented, absolutely, there is no threat at all from Russia to the UK.'” (04/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yl2729nmjo
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12) Law firms pledge almost $1 billion in free work to Trump
Source: Axios
“America’s most prestigious law firms have agreed to provide almost $1 billion worth of legal work to President Trump — and that total will likely grow. Trump announced deals with 5 firms Friday. He’s now gotten the giants of Big Law to pledge a combined $940 million in pro bono legal work for conservative causes. Trump began this process by signing executive orders targeting firms that had employed or represented his critics. … Four of yesterday’s agreements came from firms that were placed under investigation for their internal diversity policies — a less severe threat than Trump’s early tactic of revoking lawyers’ security clearances.” (04/12/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/12/big-law-pro-bono-legal-work-trump
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13) Iran, US hold “positive” talks in Oman, agree to resume next week
Source: Reuters
“Iran and the U.S. said they held ‘positive’ and ‘constructive’ talks in Oman on Saturday and agreed to reconvene next week in a dialogue meant to address Tehran’s escalating nuclear programme, with President Donald Trumpthreatening military action if there is no deal. ‘I think we are very close to a basis for negotiations and if we can conclude this basis next week, we’ll have gone a long way and will be able to start real discussions based on that,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state television. Araqchi said the talks – the first between Iran and a Trump administration, including his 2017-2021 first term – took place in a ‘productive, calm and positive atmosphere.’ ‘Both sides have agreed to continue the talks … probably next Saturday,’ Araqchi added. ‘Iran and the U.S. side want an agreement in the short term. We do not want talks for (the sake of) talks.'” (04/12/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-start-talks-oman-under-shadow-regional-conflict-2025-04-12/
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14) Australia: Prime minister’s party launches election campaign
Source: Reuters
“The centre-left party of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged on Sunday to help more would-be home buyers as it launched a campaign for the May 3 election shaping as a tight race with the conservative opposition. Albanese’s Labor government, which is running neck-and-neck with the Liberal-National coalition, has promised to build 1.2 million homes by 2030, to ease cost pressures that have sparked dissatisfaction with a lack of affordable housing.” (04/13/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-albanese-pledges-a10-billion-first-time-home-buyers-election-looms-2025-04-13/
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15) Study: Three million child deaths linked to drug resistance
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“More than three million children around the world are thought to have died in 2022 as a result of infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a study by two leading experts in child health. Children in Africa and South East Asia were found to be most at risk. Antimicrobial resistance – known as AMR – develops when the microbes that cause infections evolve in such a way that antibiotic drugs no longer work. It has been identified as one of the biggest public health threats facing the world’s population. A new study now reveals the toll that AMR is taking on children. Using data from multiple sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, the report’s authors have calculated there were more than three million child deaths in 2022 linked to drug-resistant infections.” (04/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0xk86l9g9o
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16) US mortgage rates surge over 7% as tariffs hit bond market
Source: CNBC
“The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage surged 13 basis points Friday to 7.1%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That’s the highest rate since mid-February. Mortgage rates have been on a roller coaster ride all week, as bond yields spiked higher mid-week when President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on dozens of countries went into effect. Yields dropped when Trump lowered the tariff rate on most countries hours later. Tariffs on Chinese imports, however, currently stand at 145%. But bonds began selling off again Friday, despite a cooler-than-expected inflation report. Mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury.” (04/11/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/mortgage-rates-surge-tariffs-bond-market.html
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17) CA: Massive nude woman sculpture sparks reaction after public unveiling
Source: Fox News
“A 45-foot statue of a nude woman is the newest — and tallest — resident of San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza. The artwork, titled ‘R-Evolution,’ was unveiled with music, lights and performance art Thursday, courtesy of the public art nonprofit Illuminate. Designed to glow at night and appear to ‘breathe’ via internal motors, the statue was meant to represent strength and compassion. Instead, it’s sparked backlash, internet memes and questions about the city’s priorities. Originally created for Burning Man in 2015 by sculptor Marco Cochrane, the stainless steel figure now stands outside the Ferry Building, casting a long (and anatomically detailed) shadow over a city where fewer and fewer people seem impressed by spectacle.” (04/12/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/massive-nude-woman-statue-blue-city-sparks-reaction-after-public-unveiling-embarrassed
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18) Tanzania: Top opposition party disqualified from polls, election commission says
Source: CNN
“Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA has been disqualified from elections due later this year, a senior election commission official said on Saturday, days after the party’s leader was charged with treason for allegedly seeking to disrupt the vote. Ramadhani Kailima, director of elections at the Independent National Elections Commission, said CHADEMA had failed to sign a code of conduct document due on Saturday, thereby nullifying its participation in the presidential and parliamentary elections expected to take place in October.” (04/12/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/12/africa/tanzania-opposition-party-disqualified-intl-latam/index.html
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19) Hong Kong: Beijing puppet regime refuses entry to UK MP
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Liberal Democrat MP has spoken of her ‘shock’ after being barred from entering Hong Kong this week. Wera Hobhouse said she flew to the Chinese region with her husband on Thursday to visit their newborn grandson but she was detained at the airport, questioned, and then deported on the first flight home. The MP for Bath, who is one of more than 40 parliamentarians on the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China that scrutinises Beijing’s human rights record, told the Sunday Times she had been given no reason as to why she was refused entry. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: ‘We will urgently raise this with the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to demand an explanation.'” (04/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6817zlglwo
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20) FL: Resident shoots, kills apparently unintentional intruder
Source: Gulf Coast News Now
“A person was shot and killed late Thursday night at a Fort Myers apartment complex. Fort Myers police say they responded to a call from someone saying they fired one shot at an intruder who was armed and trying to get into their home. Officers and EMS provided lifesaving measures, but the intruder was pronounced dead on the scene. According to FMPD, detectives discovered the person who died lived on the property and had a similar apartment number as the one he was trying to gain access to.” (04/11/25)
https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/police-swarm-apartment-complex-shooting/64453588
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Tax Form Vocabulary: The Fifth Leg
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“In 1862, Abraham Lincoln doubted his authority to free slaves held in the Confederate states by executive order (the Emancipation Proclamation), and, according to then-congressman George W. Julian of Indiana, ‘used to liken the case to that of the boy who, when asked how many legs his calf would have if he called its tail a leg, replied, ‘Five, ‘to which the prompt response was made that calling the tail a leg would not make it a leg.’ That line, usually quoted using a dog rather than a calf, comes to mind for me every April as millions of Americans arrive at line 37 of the standard US federal income tax return form, the 1040: ‘This is the amount you owe.’ Calling a demand for payment a debt doesn’t make it one.” (04/12/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19499
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22) There’s No Coming Back From Trump’s Tariff Disaster
Source: The Atlantic
by Jerusalem Demsas
“Watching the wild lines of the S&P 500, U.S. Treasury bond yields, and various foreign markets is how I’ve spent most of the past week. This felt familiar; I’d spent much of 2017 doing the same, following the vagaries of the first Trump administration and tracking the markets’ reactions like a nurse checking a patient’s heart rate. But despite that familiarity, this isn’t the same as last time. I actually wish it were. This time, there’s no coming back from this quickly. Whoever is elected the 48th president won’t be able to easily rebuild what Donald Trump is busy destroying. Countries can and will move on without the United States. Their firms will establish new supply chains and pursue other markets. Even if the U.S. were the ultra-dominant trading partner it used to be, the credibility of the nation’s promises, its treaties, its agreements, and even its basic rationality has evaporated in just weeks.” (04/12/25)
https://archive.is/O3kYv
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23) Two Cheers for Extended Tax Cuts and an IRS in Chaos
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“With Tax Day rapidly approaching, I can’t be the only person who chuckles over reports about layoffs and top officials quitting at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). ‘Oh, that should put them off their game,’ I think to myself. I’m equally pleased to see Congress moving to extend tax cuts even while knowing that the federal government really needs to balance its books. After all, the feds have never shown much willingness to cut spending even as they burn through every dime they collect and more. The fact is that I hate taxes and the system that collects them, and so do most Americans.” (04/11/25)
https://reason.com/2025/04/11/two-cheers-for-extended-tax-cuts-and-an-irs-in-chaos/
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24) Understanding the Trump Show
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Donald Trump was never much of an executive, a fact attested to by his many high-profile failures (the casinos, the Plaza, etc.) and his scams (Trump University, the accounting shenanigans, etc.). He likes to present himself as the ultimate deal-maker, but he is not much of a negotiator, as Vladimir Putin knows. He likes to play at being a tough guy, but he is easily backed down by opponents ranging from Canadian politicians to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and his weak character makes him vulnerable to flattery. His gift isn’t for business or hardball politics or the Machiavellian exercise of hard power — his gift is for storytelling. … Feuds, histrionic reactions, histrionic reactions to the histrionic reactions — Trump’s political pattern is simply an adaptation of familiar reality-television tropes fitted to the pace of social media.” (04/11/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-tariffs-immigration-theater-narrative/
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25) Tariffs and the Constitution
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“In 1977, Congress enacted the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. This law permitted the president to impose tariffs on goods emanating from outside the U.S. in the case of an economic emergency. The statute defined an emergency as a sudden and unexpected event that adversely affects U.S. national security or economic prosperity. … imbalance of trade means that persons and businesses in the U.S. spend more money on the goods and services that they buy from foreign sellers than they receive from sales of goods and services to foreign buyers. The executive order signed last week by Trump reflects that the U.S. has experienced this trade imbalance since 1934! Thus, by definition, it is not a sudden or unexpected event, and thus, it is not an emergency as defined in the statute. … There is also no constitutional basis for the statute.” (04/11/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2025/04/10/tariffs-and-the-constitution-2/
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26) In tariff tiffs, the art of compromise
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs – duties on imports – have brought recriminations and specific threats by most nations. Notably, the European Union has struck a decidedly mild tone. ‘What’s important here is that Europe reacts in a calm and measured way’, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said. Britain, an EU member until 2020, said it, too, would negotiate calmly with Washington. For the EU, the stakes in a trade war with the United States would not be low. But its mild reaction so far comes from a need to navigate the divergent interests of 27 member countries. Patient listening and consensus-making are the only options. That can be infuriating for some. The bloc’s bureaucracy can be a faceless force, binding energy and ideas in endless process. But recent weeks have shown the flip side.” (04/11/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0411/In-tariff-tiffs-the-art-of-compromise
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27) God, Hell and Moral Realism
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“A common criticism of Christianity is that it is internally inconsistent, that a loving god could not condemn souls to an eternity of Hell. I usually see this as an argument for atheism. I have recently encountered it not as a reason to doubt the existence of a Hell and its creator but as a criticism of Him. Or, in this case, Her.” (04/12/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/god-hell-and-moral-realism
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28) Supreme Court Slaps Down Trump’s Deportation Overreach: Why Due Process Matters
Source: Palm Beach Examiner
by Karl Dickey
“Imagine yourself driving down A1A in Palm Beach County, enjoying a nice relaxing drive along the ocean when suddenly you are detained without cause, taken away from your family and shipped like cargo to a foreign prison and told ‘it’s all a mistake’ — but yet the U.S. government shrugs claiming, it can’t fix the situation they created. That is what happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man legally living in the U.S., deported to El Salvador’s brutal CECOT prison designed for the worst of the worst of our society despite a court order for his return. Many Americans are angry at the judge who gave that court order. What sense does any of this make?” (04//12/25)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/supreme-court-slaps-down-trumps-deportation
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29) On AI And Consciousness
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Computer scientist and futurist Jaron Lanier made some comments on Vox’s The Gray Area podcast the other day that I’d like to make a quick observation about. In the podcast, titled ‘Will AI become God? That’s the wrong question,’ Lanier talks about how artificial ‘intelligence’ has become a sort of quasi religion in Silicon Valley, complete with its own deity-like entity, and a kind of Armageddon-cult-like vision for our future. Asked by host Sean Illing about people’s anxiety regarding AI and the possibility of human extinction, Lanier said many in Silicon Valley have come to view humanity as a mere birthing vessel for these new technologies, which will become our vastly superior replacement. ‘What drives me crazy about this is that this is my world,’ Lanier said.” (04/12/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/12/on-ai-and-consciousness/
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30) An Open Letter To Jay Bhattacharya, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and J.D. Vance
Source: Consent Factory, Inc.
by CJ Hopkins
“When governments blatantly instrumentalize and cynically interpret statutes to justify punishing political dissent and intimidating the public into silence and obedience, it doesn’t fool anyone. We all recognize what they are doing. We get the message they are sending. The tactic wouldn’t work if we didn’t. The message is that our ‘democratic rights and principles’ are meaningless. They are empty platitudes, which will be violated whenever it is convenient to whichever party is in power. They will be sanctimoniously recited whenever one party wants to shame another political party — or another country, or union of countries — and then ignored and made a mockery of the moment it is expedient.” (04/12/25)
https://consentfactory.org/2025/04/12/an-open-letter-to-jay-bhattacharya-robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-j-d-vance/
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31) Trump Iran talks could herald the biggest Mid-East reformation of our lifetime
Source: New York Post
by Julian Epstein
“Previous administrations would have never dreamed of direct talks with a pariah state like Iran so early in a new administration. They would have favored a slower technocratic process of preliminary proposals, proffers, and, above all else, insulating the principals from any blame in the event the talks failed. Not Trump. He has never been much for bureaucratic foreplay. He’s bored by conventions and processes. And as we saw after the Saturday meeting, his instincts may again be right. Trump’s message to Iran is simple. You have no cards. The walls are closing in. Abandon your nuclear program, or else. To most observers, this appears to be the use of hard power, or the threat of it, by someone with a bigger gun.” [editor’s note: Epstein doesn’t mention that the situation Trump is trying to address is 100%, completely, totally of his own making – TLK] (04/12/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/12/opinion/the-us-iran-talks-could-be-big-for-trump-and-bad-for-putin/
-----
32) The Limits of Immanent Critique
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Toby Rogers
“Immanent critique is the ultimate academic flex. It shows that you understand your opponent’s argument better than they understand it themselves. It disarms your opponent without a clash of swords (metaphorical or literal). In general, it’s really difficult to change someone’s mind. But if one is to have any chance of changing someone’s mind, immanent critique is probably one of the best ways to do it. A strong case can be made that the success of the abolition movement, the Suffragette movement, Gandhi’s anti-colonial movement in India, and the civil rights movement, to name a few, stems at least in part from their skillful use of immanent critique (although one would have called it something different at the time and each of these movements used a blend of rhetorical and political organizing strategies).” (04/12/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-limits-of-immanent-critique/
-----
33) By Moving Communications to X, Trump & Musk Renew Attack [sic] on Social Security
Source: Common Dreams
by Martin Burns & Mary Liz Burns
“No media outlet has done a better job on reporting on the havoc that special government employee Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump have unleashed than Wired. Their outstanding reporting continued Friday as they scooped everyone by reporting that ‘the Social Security Administration will no longer be communicating with the media and the public through press releases and ‘dear colleague’ letters, as it shifts its public communication exclusively to X, sources tell WIRED. The news comes amid major staffing cuts at the agency.’ That’s right — all public information about Social Security will come via X.” (04/12/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/move-x-social-security
-----
34) The terrible arguments coming from Trump’s tariff defenders
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“Markets have swooned and spiked and swooned again as President Donald Trump has alternately imposed and then paused large new tariffs. What has stayed consistent through every announcement is the dismal quality of the public arguments for these spasms of protectionism. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has run through many of the worst ones. ‘A lot of our trading partners, including some of our allies, have not been good partners,’ he told Tucker Carlson. ‘If tariffs are so bad, why do they have them?’ Governments throughout history have pursued policies that impoverish their people. Many countries, including our own, have recently had high inflation. If it’s so bad, why has it been so widespread? But Bessent’s point is even weaker than that.” (04/11/25)
https://archive.is/dxYKu
-----
35) The Emperor’s New Tariffs
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan
“It has been a clarifying few days, hasn’t it? My mind kept wandering to the fable of Hans Christian Andersen about the emperor’s new clothes. Insulated from any reality, surrounded entirely by yes-men, and utterly convinced of his own unique powers of observation, the Emperor struts forth one day sure of his new finery, but in fact, remains completely starkers. It takes one small boy to point out the feeble willy swinging in the breeze, and the exposure is complete. Indelible. Irrecoverable. In this case, the bond market was the little boy. And the numbers proved what the cult kept denying: there was, and is, no coherence to the mad tariffs announced by the mad king — no strategy, no discernible math, no endgame, no rationality. It was just the crank who for decades has failed to understand trade finally acting out his long-held fantasies and delusions.” (04/11/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-emperors-new-tariffs-a8d
-----
36) Yes, It’s Fascism
Source: Liberal Currents
by Kevin J Elliott
“There was a considerable debate during and after Trump’s first term as to whether he, and the political formation he headed, should count as fascist. Although that debate is over with high profile skeptics throwing in the towel (John Ganz, enjoy your victory lap), it remains unclear what the triumph of the ‘yes, it’s fascism’ side means because some high profile entries ran together fascism and authoritarianism as if they were the same. Given how little most Americans know about history and political theory, it’s easy to be confused about which of these two the Trump regime is attempting to inaugurate in this moment of reactionary revolution. Since the difference can be huge, it’s vital that we get it straight.” (04/11/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/yes-its-fascism/
-----
37) Fighting the Ideological Lie
Source: The American Mind
by Daniel J. Mahoney
“This book aims to provide nothing less than a full-throated defense of moral and political sanity against the latest eruptions of ideological mendacity in our time. Its thesis is simple enough, but it needs the full resources of applied political philosophy to explain with adequate clarity and depth. The thesis? That the ‘ideological’ project to replace the only human condition we know with a utopian ‘Second Reality,’ oblivious to (indeed at war with) the deepest wellsprings of human nature and God’s creation has taken on renewed virulence in the late modern world, just 35 years after the glorious anti-totalitarian revolutions of 1989. This was not supposed to happen. [excerpted from The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The Totalitarian Impulse Then and Now].” (04/11/25)
https://americanmind.org/salvo/fighting-the-ideological-lie/
-----
38) Tariff mania shows why no one person can run an economy
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“By handing one person tariff power, we give that person the means to boost or destroy the economy based on whim. As Trump said last week, ‘I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my as**. They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, Sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir.’’ The beauty of the market is it’s decentralized. It reflects the individual decisions of billions of people. Authoritarian systems vest that power in one person or small cadre. … Trump isn’t shy about using his influence to peddle access, sell overpriced Chinese-made trinkets or get government favors for his company, so we shouldn’t be surprised by this crony-capitalist tilt.” (04/11/25)
https://archive.is/Iv3Le
-----
39) Donald Trump Is Raising Your Taxes, and Republicans Won’t Stop Him
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“On Wednesday, President Donald Trump put a 90-day pause on some of his tariffs. On Thursday, House Republicans approved the Senate’s budget resolution, which is a precursor to passing filibuster-proof “budget reconciliation” legislation that cuts taxes. Are we seeing the return of the traditional Republican Party, the one you can count on — no matter the economy — to lower your tax burden? Nope. Trump kept tariffs in place that increase your taxes. And the budget reconciliation bill is unlikely to lead to a net tax cut, especially for those in the working class who are hit hardest by giant import duties.” (04/11/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/11/donald-trump-is-raising-your-taxes-and-republicans-wont-stop-him/
-----
40) You Don’t Need to Have All the Answers Before You Start
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jennie Jones
“Traditional education tends to create the belief that there is an authority figure who knows all the ‘right’ answers, and everyone under that authority needs to get the same ‘right’ answer. Everything has already been discovered, codified, added to a textbook, and standardized for the test. The student’s job is not to explore and experiment, but to memorize and regurgitate. And yet, on the digital frontier, there is a broad recognition that the world is changing so rapidly that a software product started last month might be already out of date. Yesterday’s ‘right’ answers might be obsolete tomorrow. There is so much exploration and experimentation yet to be done.” (04/11/25)
https://fee.org/articles/you-dont-need-to-have-all-the-answers-before-you-start/
-----
41) Could Jay Powell Restrain Trump?
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Not surprisingly, Trump’s tariff ‘pause’ has failed to reassure either trading partners or financial markets. His comment to a Republican gathering that other countries are ‘kissing my ass, they are dying to make a deal’ has backfired. Other national leaders, mistrusting Trump’s capacity for keeping his word (and his sanity) are not in fact behaving like, say, the craven presidents of Harvard and Columbia Universities. They see Trump’s capitulation as a sign of weakness and are likely to drive tougher bargains. The escalating trade war with China adds to the instability. As financial markets continue to gyrate, the role of one key player, Fed Chair Jay Powell, is worth a closer look. Trump has been pressuring Powell to cut interest rates. But that would only serve to enable Trump’s trade war by cushioning its economic impact.” (04/11/25)
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-04-11-could-jay-powell-restrain-trump/
-----
42) European rearmament: Shuffling fake money around a monopoly board?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ian Proud
“Amid calls for Europe to rearm, competing ideas are circulating around how to ensure European nations can take on Russia in a possible future war without U.S. backing. While the idea of a rearmament bank may carry some appeal, it’s less clear that there’s any new money for what is likely to be a very expensive enterprise.” (04/11/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/europe-defense/
-----
43) The Trade Derangement Syndrome
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“A government significantly restricting the freedom to trade of its own citizens and residents and running a propaganda machine to push related lies on the populace must represent an advanced case of the Trade Derangement Syndrome. Perhaps we can view that as the prefiguration of an utopian mix of Orwellian vicious rulers and an addicted and smiling populace à la Huxley. The observation that previous governments have brought their own stones to the building of Leviathan’s palace is correct as well as useful for a project in constitutional political economy: chaining the occupant or occupants of the palace. But it also risks becoming a partisan diversion that understates the present danger.” (04/11/25)
https://www.econlib.org/does-incoherence-pay/
-----
44) From Son of the Revolution to Old Man Eloquent
Source: Law & Liberty
by Michael Lucchese
“John Quincy Adams was a witness to the birth of the American republic. The son of the statesman most responsible for the independence of the United States, he spent his formative years in a Massachusetts abuzz with the excitement of rebellion or abroad working on behalf of his country’s interests in the hostile courts of Europe. Aside from the actual leaders of the Revolution, perhaps no contemporary of those events was better placed to understand and articulate their greater meaning. The Library of America has already done a great service by publishing an edition of Adams’s famous diaries …. Now the publisher has followed it up with a new edition of Adams’s Speeches and Writings, edited by David Waldstreicher, collecting some of his most important addresses to an American people he loved but perhaps never fully understood.” (04/11/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/from-son-of-the-revolution-to-old-man-eloquent/
-----
45) Sorry Dems, literally nobody believes married women can’t get IDs
Source: Fox News
by David Marcus
“The latest ridiculous lie from Democrats about how Republicans are driving the country towards fascism is out, and it is a doozy. This time, we are meant to believe that Trump and the GOP are banning married women from voting. Spoiler Alert: They aren’t. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and others took to video this week to make the nonsensical and logically tortured claim, saying, ‘House Republicans’ so-called ‘SAVE Act’ blocks nearly 70 million women from registering to vote — just because they changed their name after marriage.’ Here is what failed glass-ceiling breaker Hillary Clinton had to say: ‘The House just passed the Republican voter suppression measure that threatens voting access for millions of Americans, including 69 million women whose married names don’t match their birth certificates.'” (04/12/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-sorry-dems-literally-nobody-believes-married-women-cant-get-ids
-----
46) Retaliatory Tariffs? Again?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“President Trump’s recent tariffs show no familiarity with history, and little reassurance for those who hoped he understood capitalism and freedom.” (04/11/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/retaliatory-tariffs-again/
-----
47) Is Free Trade the Catalyst that Can Lead Us to Freedom?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I have long believed that an unforeseen catalyst could occur that could provide the potential for a cascading effect toward freedom. Once the catalyst begins, the road toward the genuinely free society might begin to open up. Could the current free-trade controversy be such a catalyst? I don’t know. But it certainly is possible. In all my years as a libertarian, I have never seen such a massive, nationwide outpouring of support for free trade and against tariffs, trade wars, and economic protectionism. That’s one heckuva good sign for libertarianism.” (04/11/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/04/11/is-free-trade-the-catalyst-that-can-lead-us-to-freedom/
-----
48) How Universities Can Save Themselves
Source: Persuasion
by Nils Gilman
“The crisis of the universities is worse than they realize. They must rediscover their core mission.” (04/11/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-universities-can-save-themselves
-----
49) Unions Without Strikes
Source: In These Times
by Hamilton Nolan
“You can spend a lifetime studying the rich history of the labor movement. While you are doing that, new union battles and campaigns will constantly arise. Laws will change, the economy will change, industries will rise and fall. New technologies will challenge workers in previously unimagined ways. Yet the fact remains that the more you study all of the complexities of the past, present, and future, you are left with one central truth: The power of organized labor is the power of the strike. Without the strike, the labor movement’s claim to power falls apart. This fundamental and unalterable truth — the basic insight that led workers to form unions in the first place — has been echoing in my mind as I have watched the Trump administration carry out the most naked assault on organized labor since World War II.” (04/10/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/unions-labor-strikes-afge-doge-trump-federal-workers
-----
50) Resisting Invasion
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Recently shared with military brass and congressional national security committees, and recently leaked, Hegseth’s Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance is, according to The Washington Post, ‘extraordinary in its description of the potential invasion of Taiwan as the exclusive animating scenario that must be prioritized over other potential dangers.’ … This makes enormous sense. We are already at war in Ukraine and across the Middle East, while China, the most dangerous aggressor, has been ratcheting up its bullying and threats against its neighbors whom we have pledged to defend.” (04/11/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/11/resisting-invasion/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Serious Trouble, 04/12/25
Source: Serious Trouble
“Please Explain What You Mean By ‘Effectuate.” (04/12/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/please-explain-what-you-mean-by-effectuate
-----
52) The Anarchist Experience, episode 523
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich & MC discuss the Alien distraction, the troll confuses everyone with mixed analogies, and these HEADLINES: 12,000 Brits arrested per year over social media posts … UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill.” (04/12/25)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2025/04/12/the-anarchist-experience-523/
-----
53) Quillette Podcast, episode 280
Source: Quillette
“The Trouble with Tariffs.” (04/12/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/04/12/podcast-280-the-trouble-with-tariffs-economics-trump/
-----
54) Unattended Baggage, episode 289
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Betting on a coin toss? Better know physics.” (04/12/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-289-hour-1-betting-on-a-coin
-----
55) The Good Fight, 04/12/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Emily Oster on What’s Gone Wrong with Modern Parenting.” (04/12/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/emily-oster-on-whats-gone-wrong-with
-----
56) Free Talk Live, 04/12/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Trump brags about weapons :: Could the vaccinated be targeted? :: Should we let the homeless die? :: Carla Gericke assassination attempt :: Gov parasites hate free staters in NH :: Getting married as a good investment :: China selling organs :: Food pyramid propaganda :: Homeschool your kids :: Gold price going up :: Fall of the American family :: Social Security to blame? :: Most politicians are lawyers :: The evil family court system :: 2025-04-12 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Jay Noone, Colin.” (04/12/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2025-04-12
-----
57) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2631
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“What’s Motivating the Tariffs, and What to Do in a Tariff World.” (04/12/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2631-whats-motivating-the-tariffs-and-what-to-do-in-a-tariff-world/
-----
58) Conflicts of Interest, episode 784
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Israel Admits Hamas Has 40,000 Fighters, Weapons Production Sites.” (04/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news-roundup/coi-784-israel-admits-hamas-has-40000-fighters-weapons-production-sites
-----
59) Freakonomics Radio, episode 629
Source: Freakonomics
“How Is Live Theater Still Alive?” (04/11/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-is-live-theater-still-alive/
-----
60) Nonzero, 04/11/25
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“How Trump could strike a deal with Iran | NonZero World feat. Sina Toossi.” (04/11/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68581
-----
61) Ted Snider on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Ted Snider on American Operations in Ukraine and the Current State of the War.” (04/11/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/4-10-25-ted-snider-on-american-operations-in-ukraine-and-the-current-state-of-the-war/
-----
62) The Bryan Hyde Show, 04/11/25
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Ever since I first learned about the writings of Dr. Thomas Szasz, I’ve been skeptical of the therapeutic state. Check out this mind-blowing thread on the Rosenhan Effect and how a Stanford psychologist exposed some very inconvenient truths.” (04/11/25)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-5p762-1879d17
-----
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/11/25
Source: The New Republic
“Fox News Accidentally Wrecks Trump’s Tariff Spin as MAGA Panic Worsens.” (04/11/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/193884/fox-news-accidentally-wrecks-trump-tariff-spin-maga-panic-worsens
-----
64) Brian Wilson Speaks, 04/11/25
Source: Brian Wilson Writes
“‘Alinskyizing’ the Judges.” (04/11/25)
https://brianwilsonwrites.substack.com/p/alinskyizing-the-judges
-----
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/11/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Houthi Official Offers Reciprocal Truce With US, Trump Adviser Wants Escalation in Somalia, and More.” (04/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL1bm_s-uS8
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ecuador: Noboa declared presidential election winner as rival demands recount
2) Ukraine war: At least 31 killed in Russian strike on Sumy
3) PA: Suspect arrested after arson attack on governor’s residence
4) Palestine: Israeli forces bomb Gaza hospital
5) Trump exempts phones, computers from tariff idiocy
6) Dog bites man: Mangione’s attorneys notice Bondi’s death penalty play is “a political stunt”
7) Pope Francis Makes Brief Appearance After Palm Sunday Service
8) Nigeria: Roadside bomb kills eight bus passengers
9) UK: Regime OKs theft of British Steel’s Chinese-owned Scunthorpe plant
10) Hong Kong: Biggest pro-democracy party gets mandate to move closer to disbandment
11) Ambassador does not deny Russian attempts to track UK subs
12) Law firms pledge almost $1 billion in free work to Trump
13) Iran, US hold “positive” talks in Oman, agree to resume next week
14) Australia: Prime minister’s party launches election campaign
15) Study: Three million child deaths linked to drug resistance
16) US mortgage rates surge over 7% as tariffs hit bond market
17) CA: Massive nude woman sculpture sparks reaction after public unveiling
18) Tanzania: Top opposition party disqualified from polls, election commission says
19) Hong Kong: Beijing puppet regime refuses entry to UK MP
20) FL: Resident shoots, kills apparently unintentional intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Tax Form Vocabulary: The Fifth Leg
22) There’s No Coming Back From Trump’s Tariff Disaster
23) Two Cheers for Extended Tax Cuts and an IRS in Chaos
24) Understanding the Trump Show
25) Tariffs and the Constitution
26) In tariff tiffs, the art of compromise
27) God, Hell and Moral Realism
28) Supreme Court Slaps Down Trump’s Deportation Overreach: Why Due Process Matters
29) On AI And Consciousness
30) An Open Letter To Jay Bhattacharya, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and J.D. Vance
31) Trump Iran talks could herald the biggest Mid-East reformation of our lifetime
32) The Limits of Immanent Critique
33) By Moving Communications to X, Trump & Musk Renew Attack [sic] on Social Security
34) The terrible arguments coming from Trump’s tariff defenders
35) The Emperor’s New Tariffs
36) Yes, It’s Fascism
37) Fighting the Ideological Lie
38) Tariff mania shows why no one person can run an economy
39) Donald Trump Is Raising Your Taxes, and Republicans Won’t Stop Him
40) You Don’t Need to Have All the Answers Before You Start
41) Could Jay Powell Restrain Trump?
42) European rearmament: Shuffling fake money around a monopoly board?
43) The Trade Derangement Syndrome
44) From Son of the Revolution to Old Man Eloquent
45) Sorry Dems, literally nobody believes married women can’t get IDs
46) Retaliatory Tariffs? Again?
47) Is Free Trade the Catalyst that Can Lead Us to Freedom?
48) How Universities Can Save Themselves
49) Unions Without Strikes
50) Resisting Invasion
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Serious Trouble, 04/12/25
52) The Anarchist Experience, episode 523
53) Quillette Podcast, episode 280
54) Unattended Baggage, episode 289
55) The Good Fight, 04/12/25
56) Free Talk Live, 04/12/25
57) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2631
58) Conflicts of Interest, episode 784
59) Freakonomics Radio, episode 629
60) Nonzero, 04/11/25
61) Ted Snider on The Scott Horton Show
62) The Bryan Hyde Show, 04/11/25
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/11/25
64) Brian Wilson Speaks, 04/11/25
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/11/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ecuador: Noboa declared presidential election winner as rival demands recount
Source: CNN
“Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa won the country’s presidential election on Sunday based on preliminary results, an electoral official said, as his main rival demanded a recount of the vote following a race overshadowed by drug-fueled violence that has consumed the once-peaceful South American country. Noboa, a conservative, has made fighting crime and economic revitalization two of his main goals — summed up in the slogan ‘New Ecuador’ — as he faces, among other challenges, violence by criminal groups and an energy crisis that has caused constant blackouts in the country. With 90% of the ballots counted, the trend in favor of Noboa is irreversible and he is considered the winner, National Electoral Council president Diana Atamaint told a press conference Sunday. But Noboa’s closest challenger, leftist lawyer Luisa González, said she rejected the results and demanded a recount.” (04/13/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/13/americas/ecuador-vote-noboa-gonzalez-latam-intl/index.html
-----
2) Ukraine war: At least 31 killed in Russian strike on Sumy
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“At least 31 people have been killed and dozens injured in a Russian ballistic missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people were going to church for Palm Sunday. Two missiles landed in the crowded city centre. One hit a trolley bus full of passengers. Footage from the scene showed bodies lying in the street, burning cars, and rescuers carrying bloodied survivors. Two of the dead were children. … Sumy is 15 miles (25km) from the border with Russia and is a Ukrainian military hub. The missiles landed in a downtown civilian area where many people carrying willow branches for Palm Sunday were on their way to church.” (04/13/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/13/russian-missile-strike-kills-injured-ukraine-sumy
-----
3) PA: Suspect arrested after arson attack on governor’s residence
Source: Axios
“A suspect was arrested over a fire at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) Harrisburg residence that forced the governor and his family to evacuate early Sunday, officials said in the evening. The suspect was found with ‘homemade’ incendiary devices, Pennsylvania State Police deputy commissioner George Bivens said at a Sunday evening briefing. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, will face charges including attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault against an enumerated person, Pennsylvania District Attorney Fran Chardo said at the briefing.” (04/13/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/13/shapiro-arsonist-fire-governors-residence
-----
4) Palestine: Israeli forces bomb Gaza hospital
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli forces have bombed al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the largest remaining functioning hospital in northern Gaza. Critically ill patients were left on the street after fleeing the attack in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to the Reuters news agency, the hospital staff began evacuating patients from the building after a man said he received a call from someone identifying himself with Israeli security, shortly before the attack. Authorities in Gaza have condemned the bombing, noting that al-Ahli Hospital was treating hundreds of patients when it was hit by at least two missiles. … Israel has repeatedly attacked hospitals in the Palestinian enclave with impunity throughout its devastating war – according to the Government Media Office in Gaza, Israel has targeted 36 hospitals since October 2023.” (04/13/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/13/israeli-forces-bomb-al-ahli-hospital-in-gaza-forcing-patients-to-flee
-----
5) Trump exempts phones, computers from tariff idiocy
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump is exempting [American buyers of] smartphones, computers and more electronics from his global reciprocal [sic] tariffs after a tumultuous week in the markets due to his global trade war. A guidance published by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection late Friday exempted [American buyers of] these consumer electronics — many are manufactured in China — from Trump’s back-and-forth tariff escalation with China and the 10 percent global tariff. Machines used to make semiconductors will also be exempt. While these electronics won’t be subject to the escalating tariff rate Trump levied this week in a back-and-forth with China, these goods still could be hit with a significant duty if made there.” (04/12/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/12/trump-china-tariffs-smartphone-00008349
-----
6) Dog bites man: Mangione’s attorneys notice Bondi’s death penalty play is “a political stunt”
Source: MSNBC
“Luigi Mangione’s attorneys have asked a federal court to block the government from seeking the death penalty in his case, saying that the manner in which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the government’s intentions was ‘political and arbitrary.’ In a court filing Friday, Mangione’s attorneys argued that the government breached the protocol for seeking the death penalty, prejudicing the case and the potential grand jury pool. They pointed to three of Bondi’s public statements about Mangione: her April 1 press release announcing she directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty; a post on her newly created Instagram account that painted Mangione, who has not yet been indicted on federal charges, ‘as guilty of murder;’ and a Fox News appearance in which she talked about Mangione’s federal case.” (04/13/25)
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/luigi-mangione-death-penalty-pam-bondi-federal-case-political-stunt-rcna200990
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7) Pope Francis Makes Brief Appearance After Palm Sunday Service
Source: US News & World Report
“Pope Francis made a brief appearance in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday at the end of a Palm Sunday service, greeting the crowds from his wheelchair as he continues to recover from double pneumonia. ‘Happy Palm Sunday, Happy Holy Week,’ the pope said, before once returning inside the Vatican, stopping occasionally to talk with the faithful, including a group of delighted nuns. Unlike last Sunday, when he made his first public appearance since being discharged from hospital three weeks ago, the pope was not receiving oxygen via a small hose under his nose. Francis, 88, was discharged from hospital on March 23 after spending five weeks being treated for the lung infection, which his doctor later said had nearly killed him.” (04/13/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-13/pope-francis-makes-brief-appearance-after-palm-sunday-service
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8) Nigeria: Roadside bomb kills eight bus passengers
Source: ABC News
“A roadside bomb suspected to have been planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria struck a passenger bus, killing eight people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said. The bus was traveling along the Damboa-Maiduguri highway in the conflict-battered Borno state on Saturday when it drove over the explosive device, Borno state police spokesman Nahum Daso said in a statement. Islamic extremists with the Boko Haram group took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. The conflict, Africa’s longest struggle with militancy, has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors and has left some 35,000 civilians dead and more than 2 million displaced, according to the U.N.” (04/13/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bomb-kills-8-bus-passengers-northeast-nigeria-120760100
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9) UK: Regime OKs theft of British Steel’s Chinese-owned Scunthorpe plant
Source: United Press International
“The U.K. Parliament authorized the government to seize control of the Chinese-owned British Steel plant in Scunthorpe to prevent its closure and the loss of up to 2,700 jobs. Members of Parliament approved a government takeover of the steel plant that is owned by Chinese firm Jingye during an emergency session Saturday morning to stop its owners from shutting down two blast furnaces and ending steel production in the United Kingdom, the BBC reported. The British government and Jingye officials had been negotiating to keep the steel plant open, but those talks broke down, which triggered Saturday’s emergency session of Parliament.” (04/12/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/04/12/uk-british-steel-plant-seized/4781744504263/
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10) Hong Kong: Biggest pro-democracy party gets mandate to move closer to disbandment
Source: ABC News
“Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy party on Sunday received its members’ mandate to proceed with steps toward a potential disbandment, part of the erosion of political freedoms as China cracks down on dissent in the southern city. Democratic Party Chairman Lo Kin-hei said over 90% of the members who took part in the vote supported the motion to let the central committee take up the procedure toward disbandment. He said he hopes there will be a final vote in the coming months. The party’s decision reflects the dwindling semi-autonomy and freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to China’s rule in 1997. The moderate political party has effectively become a pressure group, members say.” (04/13/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hong-kongs-biggest-pro-democracy-party-gets-mandate-120759749
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11) Ambassador does not deny Russian attempts to track UK subs
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Russia’s ambassador to the UK has not denied allegations that Russian sensors have been hidden in seas around Great Britain in an attempt to track UK nuclear submarines. Andrei Kelin said that while he did not deny Russia was attempting to track British submarines, he rejected the idea that such activities presented a threat to the UK. Asked on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg whether he objected to the claims, Kelin said: ‘No.’ ‘I am not going to deny it, but I wonder whether we really have an interest in following all the British submarine with very old outdated nuclear warheads… all these threats are extremely exaggerated,’ he said. Pressed further by Kuenssberg, the ambassador added: ‘I’m denying existence of threats for the United Kingdom. This threat has been invented, absolutely, there is no threat at all from Russia to the UK.'” (04/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yl2729nmjo
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12) Law firms pledge almost $1 billion in free work to Trump
Source: Axios
“America’s most prestigious law firms have agreed to provide almost $1 billion worth of legal work to President Trump — and that total will likely grow. Trump announced deals with 5 firms Friday. He’s now gotten the giants of Big Law to pledge a combined $940 million in pro bono legal work for conservative causes. Trump began this process by signing executive orders targeting firms that had employed or represented his critics. … Four of yesterday’s agreements came from firms that were placed under investigation for their internal diversity policies — a less severe threat than Trump’s early tactic of revoking lawyers’ security clearances.” (04/12/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/12/big-law-pro-bono-legal-work-trump
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13) Iran, US hold “positive” talks in Oman, agree to resume next week
Source: Reuters
“Iran and the U.S. said they held ‘positive’ and ‘constructive’ talks in Oman on Saturday and agreed to reconvene next week in a dialogue meant to address Tehran’s escalating nuclear programme, with President Donald Trumpthreatening military action if there is no deal. ‘I think we are very close to a basis for negotiations and if we can conclude this basis next week, we’ll have gone a long way and will be able to start real discussions based on that,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state television. Araqchi said the talks – the first between Iran and a Trump administration, including his 2017-2021 first term – took place in a ‘productive, calm and positive atmosphere.’ ‘Both sides have agreed to continue the talks … probably next Saturday,’ Araqchi added. ‘Iran and the U.S. side want an agreement in the short term. We do not want talks for (the sake of) talks.'” (04/12/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-start-talks-oman-under-shadow-regional-conflict-2025-04-12/
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14) Australia: Prime minister’s party launches election campaign
Source: Reuters
“The centre-left party of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged on Sunday to help more would-be home buyers as it launched a campaign for the May 3 election shaping as a tight race with the conservative opposition. Albanese’s Labor government, which is running neck-and-neck with the Liberal-National coalition, has promised to build 1.2 million homes by 2030, to ease cost pressures that have sparked dissatisfaction with a lack of affordable housing.” (04/13/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-albanese-pledges-a10-billion-first-time-home-buyers-election-looms-2025-04-13/
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15) Study: Three million child deaths linked to drug resistance
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“More than three million children around the world are thought to have died in 2022 as a result of infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a study by two leading experts in child health. Children in Africa and South East Asia were found to be most at risk. Antimicrobial resistance – known as AMR – develops when the microbes that cause infections evolve in such a way that antibiotic drugs no longer work. It has been identified as one of the biggest public health threats facing the world’s population. A new study now reveals the toll that AMR is taking on children. Using data from multiple sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, the report’s authors have calculated there were more than three million child deaths in 2022 linked to drug-resistant infections.” (04/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0xk86l9g9o
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16) US mortgage rates surge over 7% as tariffs hit bond market
Source: CNBC
“The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage surged 13 basis points Friday to 7.1%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That’s the highest rate since mid-February. Mortgage rates have been on a roller coaster ride all week, as bond yields spiked higher mid-week when President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on dozens of countries went into effect. Yields dropped when Trump lowered the tariff rate on most countries hours later. Tariffs on Chinese imports, however, currently stand at 145%. But bonds began selling off again Friday, despite a cooler-than-expected inflation report. Mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury.” (04/11/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/mortgage-rates-surge-tariffs-bond-market.html
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17) CA: Massive nude woman sculpture sparks reaction after public unveiling
Source: Fox News
“A 45-foot statue of a nude woman is the newest — and tallest — resident of San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza. The artwork, titled ‘R-Evolution,’ was unveiled with music, lights and performance art Thursday, courtesy of the public art nonprofit Illuminate. Designed to glow at night and appear to ‘breathe’ via internal motors, the statue was meant to represent strength and compassion. Instead, it’s sparked backlash, internet memes and questions about the city’s priorities. Originally created for Burning Man in 2015 by sculptor Marco Cochrane, the stainless steel figure now stands outside the Ferry Building, casting a long (and anatomically detailed) shadow over a city where fewer and fewer people seem impressed by spectacle.” (04/12/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/massive-nude-woman-statue-blue-city-sparks-reaction-after-public-unveiling-embarrassed
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18) Tanzania: Top opposition party disqualified from polls, election commission says
Source: CNN
“Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA has been disqualified from elections due later this year, a senior election commission official said on Saturday, days after the party’s leader was charged with treason for allegedly seeking to disrupt the vote. Ramadhani Kailima, director of elections at the Independent National Elections Commission, said CHADEMA had failed to sign a code of conduct document due on Saturday, thereby nullifying its participation in the presidential and parliamentary elections expected to take place in October.” (04/12/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/12/africa/tanzania-opposition-party-disqualified-intl-latam/index.html
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19) Hong Kong: Beijing puppet regime refuses entry to UK MP
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Liberal Democrat MP has spoken of her ‘shock’ after being barred from entering Hong Kong this week. Wera Hobhouse said she flew to the Chinese region with her husband on Thursday to visit their newborn grandson but she was detained at the airport, questioned, and then deported on the first flight home. The MP for Bath, who is one of more than 40 parliamentarians on the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China that scrutinises Beijing’s human rights record, told the Sunday Times she had been given no reason as to why she was refused entry. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: ‘We will urgently raise this with the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to demand an explanation.'” (04/13/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6817zlglwo
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20) FL: Resident shoots, kills apparently unintentional intruder
Source: Gulf Coast News Now
“A person was shot and killed late Thursday night at a Fort Myers apartment complex. Fort Myers police say they responded to a call from someone saying they fired one shot at an intruder who was armed and trying to get into their home. Officers and EMS provided lifesaving measures, but the intruder was pronounced dead on the scene. According to FMPD, detectives discovered the person who died lived on the property and had a similar apartment number as the one he was trying to gain access to.” (04/11/25)
https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/police-swarm-apartment-complex-shooting/64453588
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Tax Form Vocabulary: The Fifth Leg
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“In 1862, Abraham Lincoln doubted his authority to free slaves held in the Confederate states by executive order (the Emancipation Proclamation), and, according to then-congressman George W. Julian of Indiana, ‘used to liken the case to that of the boy who, when asked how many legs his calf would have if he called its tail a leg, replied, ‘Five, ‘to which the prompt response was made that calling the tail a leg would not make it a leg.’ That line, usually quoted using a dog rather than a calf, comes to mind for me every April as millions of Americans arrive at line 37 of the standard US federal income tax return form, the 1040: ‘This is the amount you owe.’ Calling a demand for payment a debt doesn’t make it one.” (04/12/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19499
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22) There’s No Coming Back From Trump’s Tariff Disaster
Source: The Atlantic
by Jerusalem Demsas
“Watching the wild lines of the S&P 500, U.S. Treasury bond yields, and various foreign markets is how I’ve spent most of the past week. This felt familiar; I’d spent much of 2017 doing the same, following the vagaries of the first Trump administration and tracking the markets’ reactions like a nurse checking a patient’s heart rate. But despite that familiarity, this isn’t the same as last time. I actually wish it were. This time, there’s no coming back from this quickly. Whoever is elected the 48th president won’t be able to easily rebuild what Donald Trump is busy destroying. Countries can and will move on without the United States. Their firms will establish new supply chains and pursue other markets. Even if the U.S. were the ultra-dominant trading partner it used to be, the credibility of the nation’s promises, its treaties, its agreements, and even its basic rationality has evaporated in just weeks.” (04/12/25)
https://archive.is/O3kYv
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23) Two Cheers for Extended Tax Cuts and an IRS in Chaos
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“With Tax Day rapidly approaching, I can’t be the only person who chuckles over reports about layoffs and top officials quitting at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). ‘Oh, that should put them off their game,’ I think to myself. I’m equally pleased to see Congress moving to extend tax cuts even while knowing that the federal government really needs to balance its books. After all, the feds have never shown much willingness to cut spending even as they burn through every dime they collect and more. The fact is that I hate taxes and the system that collects them, and so do most Americans.” (04/11/25)
https://reason.com/2025/04/11/two-cheers-for-extended-tax-cuts-and-an-irs-in-chaos/
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24) Understanding the Trump Show
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Donald Trump was never much of an executive, a fact attested to by his many high-profile failures (the casinos, the Plaza, etc.) and his scams (Trump University, the accounting shenanigans, etc.). He likes to present himself as the ultimate deal-maker, but he is not much of a negotiator, as Vladimir Putin knows. He likes to play at being a tough guy, but he is easily backed down by opponents ranging from Canadian politicians to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and his weak character makes him vulnerable to flattery. His gift isn’t for business or hardball politics or the Machiavellian exercise of hard power — his gift is for storytelling. … Feuds, histrionic reactions, histrionic reactions to the histrionic reactions — Trump’s political pattern is simply an adaptation of familiar reality-television tropes fitted to the pace of social media.” (04/11/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-tariffs-immigration-theater-narrative/
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25) Tariffs and the Constitution
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“In 1977, Congress enacted the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. This law permitted the president to impose tariffs on goods emanating from outside the U.S. in the case of an economic emergency. The statute defined an emergency as a sudden and unexpected event that adversely affects U.S. national security or economic prosperity. … imbalance of trade means that persons and businesses in the U.S. spend more money on the goods and services that they buy from foreign sellers than they receive from sales of goods and services to foreign buyers. The executive order signed last week by Trump reflects that the U.S. has experienced this trade imbalance since 1934! Thus, by definition, it is not a sudden or unexpected event, and thus, it is not an emergency as defined in the statute. … There is also no constitutional basis for the statute.” (04/11/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2025/04/10/tariffs-and-the-constitution-2/
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26) In tariff tiffs, the art of compromise
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs – duties on imports – have brought recriminations and specific threats by most nations. Notably, the European Union has struck a decidedly mild tone. ‘What’s important here is that Europe reacts in a calm and measured way’, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said. Britain, an EU member until 2020, said it, too, would negotiate calmly with Washington. For the EU, the stakes in a trade war with the United States would not be low. But its mild reaction so far comes from a need to navigate the divergent interests of 27 member countries. Patient listening and consensus-making are the only options. That can be infuriating for some. The bloc’s bureaucracy can be a faceless force, binding energy and ideas in endless process. But recent weeks have shown the flip side.” (04/11/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0411/In-tariff-tiffs-the-art-of-compromise
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27) God, Hell and Moral Realism
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“A common criticism of Christianity is that it is internally inconsistent, that a loving god could not condemn souls to an eternity of Hell. I usually see this as an argument for atheism. I have recently encountered it not as a reason to doubt the existence of a Hell and its creator but as a criticism of Him. Or, in this case, Her.” (04/12/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/god-hell-and-moral-realism
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28) Supreme Court Slaps Down Trump’s Deportation Overreach: Why Due Process Matters
Source: Palm Beach Examiner
by Karl Dickey
“Imagine yourself driving down A1A in Palm Beach County, enjoying a nice relaxing drive along the ocean when suddenly you are detained without cause, taken away from your family and shipped like cargo to a foreign prison and told ‘it’s all a mistake’ — but yet the U.S. government shrugs claiming, it can’t fix the situation they created. That is what happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man legally living in the U.S., deported to El Salvador’s brutal CECOT prison designed for the worst of the worst of our society despite a court order for his return. Many Americans are angry at the judge who gave that court order. What sense does any of this make?” (04//12/25)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/supreme-court-slaps-down-trumps-deportation
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29) On AI And Consciousness
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Computer scientist and futurist Jaron Lanier made some comments on Vox’s The Gray Area podcast the other day that I’d like to make a quick observation about. In the podcast, titled ‘Will AI become God? That’s the wrong question,’ Lanier talks about how artificial ‘intelligence’ has become a sort of quasi religion in Silicon Valley, complete with its own deity-like entity, and a kind of Armageddon-cult-like vision for our future. Asked by host Sean Illing about people’s anxiety regarding AI and the possibility of human extinction, Lanier said many in Silicon Valley have come to view humanity as a mere birthing vessel for these new technologies, which will become our vastly superior replacement. ‘What drives me crazy about this is that this is my world,’ Lanier said.” (04/12/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/12/on-ai-and-consciousness/
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30) An Open Letter To Jay Bhattacharya, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and J.D. Vance
Source: Consent Factory, Inc.
by CJ Hopkins
“When governments blatantly instrumentalize and cynically interpret statutes to justify punishing political dissent and intimidating the public into silence and obedience, it doesn’t fool anyone. We all recognize what they are doing. We get the message they are sending. The tactic wouldn’t work if we didn’t. The message is that our ‘democratic rights and principles’ are meaningless. They are empty platitudes, which will be violated whenever it is convenient to whichever party is in power. They will be sanctimoniously recited whenever one party wants to shame another political party — or another country, or union of countries — and then ignored and made a mockery of the moment it is expedient.” (04/12/25)
https://consentfactory.org/2025/04/12/an-open-letter-to-jay-bhattacharya-robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-j-d-vance/
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31) Trump Iran talks could herald the biggest Mid-East reformation of our lifetime
Source: New York Post
by Julian Epstein
“Previous administrations would have never dreamed of direct talks with a pariah state like Iran so early in a new administration. They would have favored a slower technocratic process of preliminary proposals, proffers, and, above all else, insulating the principals from any blame in the event the talks failed. Not Trump. He has never been much for bureaucratic foreplay. He’s bored by conventions and processes. And as we saw after the Saturday meeting, his instincts may again be right. Trump’s message to Iran is simple. You have no cards. The walls are closing in. Abandon your nuclear program, or else. To most observers, this appears to be the use of hard power, or the threat of it, by someone with a bigger gun.” [editor’s note: Epstein doesn’t mention that the situation Trump is trying to address is 100%, completely, totally of his own making – TLK] (04/12/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/12/opinion/the-us-iran-talks-could-be-big-for-trump-and-bad-for-putin/
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32) The Limits of Immanent Critique
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Toby Rogers
“Immanent critique is the ultimate academic flex. It shows that you understand your opponent’s argument better than they understand it themselves. It disarms your opponent without a clash of swords (metaphorical or literal). In general, it’s really difficult to change someone’s mind. But if one is to have any chance of changing someone’s mind, immanent critique is probably one of the best ways to do it. A strong case can be made that the success of the abolition movement, the Suffragette movement, Gandhi’s anti-colonial movement in India, and the civil rights movement, to name a few, stems at least in part from their skillful use of immanent critique (although one would have called it something different at the time and each of these movements used a blend of rhetorical and political organizing strategies).” (04/12/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-limits-of-immanent-critique/
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33) By Moving Communications to X, Trump & Musk Renew Attack [sic] on Social Security
Source: Common Dreams
by Martin Burns & Mary Liz Burns
“No media outlet has done a better job on reporting on the havoc that special government employee Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump have unleashed than Wired. Their outstanding reporting continued Friday as they scooped everyone by reporting that ‘the Social Security Administration will no longer be communicating with the media and the public through press releases and ‘dear colleague’ letters, as it shifts its public communication exclusively to X, sources tell WIRED. The news comes amid major staffing cuts at the agency.’ That’s right — all public information about Social Security will come via X.” (04/12/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/move-x-social-security
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34) The terrible arguments coming from Trump’s tariff defenders
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“Markets have swooned and spiked and swooned again as President Donald Trump has alternately imposed and then paused large new tariffs. What has stayed consistent through every announcement is the dismal quality of the public arguments for these spasms of protectionism. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has run through many of the worst ones. ‘A lot of our trading partners, including some of our allies, have not been good partners,’ he told Tucker Carlson. ‘If tariffs are so bad, why do they have them?’ Governments throughout history have pursued policies that impoverish their people. Many countries, including our own, have recently had high inflation. If it’s so bad, why has it been so widespread? But Bessent’s point is even weaker than that.” (04/11/25)
https://archive.is/dxYKu
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35) The Emperor’s New Tariffs
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan
“It has been a clarifying few days, hasn’t it? My mind kept wandering to the fable of Hans Christian Andersen about the emperor’s new clothes. Insulated from any reality, surrounded entirely by yes-men, and utterly convinced of his own unique powers of observation, the Emperor struts forth one day sure of his new finery, but in fact, remains completely starkers. It takes one small boy to point out the feeble willy swinging in the breeze, and the exposure is complete. Indelible. Irrecoverable. In this case, the bond market was the little boy. And the numbers proved what the cult kept denying: there was, and is, no coherence to the mad tariffs announced by the mad king — no strategy, no discernible math, no endgame, no rationality. It was just the crank who for decades has failed to understand trade finally acting out his long-held fantasies and delusions.” (04/11/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-emperors-new-tariffs-a8d
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36) Yes, It’s Fascism
Source: Liberal Currents
by Kevin J Elliott
“There was a considerable debate during and after Trump’s first term as to whether he, and the political formation he headed, should count as fascist. Although that debate is over with high profile skeptics throwing in the towel (John Ganz, enjoy your victory lap), it remains unclear what the triumph of the ‘yes, it’s fascism’ side means because some high profile entries ran together fascism and authoritarianism as if they were the same. Given how little most Americans know about history and political theory, it’s easy to be confused about which of these two the Trump regime is attempting to inaugurate in this moment of reactionary revolution. Since the difference can be huge, it’s vital that we get it straight.” (04/11/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/yes-its-fascism/
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37) Fighting the Ideological Lie
Source: The American Mind
by Daniel J. Mahoney
“This book aims to provide nothing less than a full-throated defense of moral and political sanity against the latest eruptions of ideological mendacity in our time. Its thesis is simple enough, but it needs the full resources of applied political philosophy to explain with adequate clarity and depth. The thesis? That the ‘ideological’ project to replace the only human condition we know with a utopian ‘Second Reality,’ oblivious to (indeed at war with) the deepest wellsprings of human nature and God’s creation has taken on renewed virulence in the late modern world, just 35 years after the glorious anti-totalitarian revolutions of 1989. This was not supposed to happen. [excerpted from The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The Totalitarian Impulse Then and Now].” (04/11/25)
https://americanmind.org/salvo/fighting-the-ideological-lie/
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38) Tariff mania shows why no one person can run an economy
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“By handing one person tariff power, we give that person the means to boost or destroy the economy based on whim. As Trump said last week, ‘I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my as**. They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, Sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir.’’ The beauty of the market is it’s decentralized. It reflects the individual decisions of billions of people. Authoritarian systems vest that power in one person or small cadre. … Trump isn’t shy about using his influence to peddle access, sell overpriced Chinese-made trinkets or get government favors for his company, so we shouldn’t be surprised by this crony-capitalist tilt.” (04/11/25)
https://archive.is/Iv3Le
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39) Donald Trump Is Raising Your Taxes, and Republicans Won’t Stop Him
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“On Wednesday, President Donald Trump put a 90-day pause on some of his tariffs. On Thursday, House Republicans approved the Senate’s budget resolution, which is a precursor to passing filibuster-proof “budget reconciliation” legislation that cuts taxes. Are we seeing the return of the traditional Republican Party, the one you can count on — no matter the economy — to lower your tax burden? Nope. Trump kept tariffs in place that increase your taxes. And the budget reconciliation bill is unlikely to lead to a net tax cut, especially for those in the working class who are hit hardest by giant import duties.” (04/11/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/11/donald-trump-is-raising-your-taxes-and-republicans-wont-stop-him/
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40) You Don’t Need to Have All the Answers Before You Start
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jennie Jones
“Traditional education tends to create the belief that there is an authority figure who knows all the ‘right’ answers, and everyone under that authority needs to get the same ‘right’ answer. Everything has already been discovered, codified, added to a textbook, and standardized for the test. The student’s job is not to explore and experiment, but to memorize and regurgitate. And yet, on the digital frontier, there is a broad recognition that the world is changing so rapidly that a software product started last month might be already out of date. Yesterday’s ‘right’ answers might be obsolete tomorrow. There is so much exploration and experimentation yet to be done.” (04/11/25)
https://fee.org/articles/you-dont-need-to-have-all-the-answers-before-you-start/
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41) Could Jay Powell Restrain Trump?
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Not surprisingly, Trump’s tariff ‘pause’ has failed to reassure either trading partners or financial markets. His comment to a Republican gathering that other countries are ‘kissing my ass, they are dying to make a deal’ has backfired. Other national leaders, mistrusting Trump’s capacity for keeping his word (and his sanity) are not in fact behaving like, say, the craven presidents of Harvard and Columbia Universities. They see Trump’s capitulation as a sign of weakness and are likely to drive tougher bargains. The escalating trade war with China adds to the instability. As financial markets continue to gyrate, the role of one key player, Fed Chair Jay Powell, is worth a closer look. Trump has been pressuring Powell to cut interest rates. But that would only serve to enable Trump’s trade war by cushioning its economic impact.” (04/11/25)
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-04-11-could-jay-powell-restrain-trump/
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42) European rearmament: Shuffling fake money around a monopoly board?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ian Proud
“Amid calls for Europe to rearm, competing ideas are circulating around how to ensure European nations can take on Russia in a possible future war without U.S. backing. While the idea of a rearmament bank may carry some appeal, it’s less clear that there’s any new money for what is likely to be a very expensive enterprise.” (04/11/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/europe-defense/
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43) The Trade Derangement Syndrome
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“A government significantly restricting the freedom to trade of its own citizens and residents and running a propaganda machine to push related lies on the populace must represent an advanced case of the Trade Derangement Syndrome. Perhaps we can view that as the prefiguration of an utopian mix of Orwellian vicious rulers and an addicted and smiling populace à la Huxley. The observation that previous governments have brought their own stones to the building of Leviathan’s palace is correct as well as useful for a project in constitutional political economy: chaining the occupant or occupants of the palace. But it also risks becoming a partisan diversion that understates the present danger.” (04/11/25)
https://www.econlib.org/does-incoherence-pay/
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44) From Son of the Revolution to Old Man Eloquent
Source: Law & Liberty
by Michael Lucchese
“John Quincy Adams was a witness to the birth of the American republic. The son of the statesman most responsible for the independence of the United States, he spent his formative years in a Massachusetts abuzz with the excitement of rebellion or abroad working on behalf of his country’s interests in the hostile courts of Europe. Aside from the actual leaders of the Revolution, perhaps no contemporary of those events was better placed to understand and articulate their greater meaning. The Library of America has already done a great service by publishing an edition of Adams’s famous diaries …. Now the publisher has followed it up with a new edition of Adams’s Speeches and Writings, edited by David Waldstreicher, collecting some of his most important addresses to an American people he loved but perhaps never fully understood.” (04/11/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/from-son-of-the-revolution-to-old-man-eloquent/
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45) Sorry Dems, literally nobody believes married women can’t get IDs
Source: Fox News
by David Marcus
“The latest ridiculous lie from Democrats about how Republicans are driving the country towards fascism is out, and it is a doozy. This time, we are meant to believe that Trump and the GOP are banning married women from voting. Spoiler Alert: They aren’t. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and others took to video this week to make the nonsensical and logically tortured claim, saying, ‘House Republicans’ so-called ‘SAVE Act’ blocks nearly 70 million women from registering to vote — just because they changed their name after marriage.’ Here is what failed glass-ceiling breaker Hillary Clinton had to say: ‘The House just passed the Republican voter suppression measure that threatens voting access for millions of Americans, including 69 million women whose married names don’t match their birth certificates.'” (04/12/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-sorry-dems-literally-nobody-believes-married-women-cant-get-ids
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46) Retaliatory Tariffs? Again?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“President Trump’s recent tariffs show no familiarity with history, and little reassurance for those who hoped he understood capitalism and freedom.” (04/11/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/retaliatory-tariffs-again/
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47) Is Free Trade the Catalyst that Can Lead Us to Freedom?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I have long believed that an unforeseen catalyst could occur that could provide the potential for a cascading effect toward freedom. Once the catalyst begins, the road toward the genuinely free society might begin to open up. Could the current free-trade controversy be such a catalyst? I don’t know. But it certainly is possible. In all my years as a libertarian, I have never seen such a massive, nationwide outpouring of support for free trade and against tariffs, trade wars, and economic protectionism. That’s one heckuva good sign for libertarianism.” (04/11/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/04/11/is-free-trade-the-catalyst-that-can-lead-us-to-freedom/
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48) How Universities Can Save Themselves
Source: Persuasion
by Nils Gilman
“The crisis of the universities is worse than they realize. They must rediscover their core mission.” (04/11/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-universities-can-save-themselves
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49) Unions Without Strikes
Source: In These Times
by Hamilton Nolan
“You can spend a lifetime studying the rich history of the labor movement. While you are doing that, new union battles and campaigns will constantly arise. Laws will change, the economy will change, industries will rise and fall. New technologies will challenge workers in previously unimagined ways. Yet the fact remains that the more you study all of the complexities of the past, present, and future, you are left with one central truth: The power of organized labor is the power of the strike. Without the strike, the labor movement’s claim to power falls apart. This fundamental and unalterable truth — the basic insight that led workers to form unions in the first place — has been echoing in my mind as I have watched the Trump administration carry out the most naked assault on organized labor since World War II.” (04/10/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/unions-labor-strikes-afge-doge-trump-federal-workers
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50) Resisting Invasion
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Recently shared with military brass and congressional national security committees, and recently leaked, Hegseth’s Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance is, according to The Washington Post, ‘extraordinary in its description of the potential invasion of Taiwan as the exclusive animating scenario that must be prioritized over other potential dangers.’ … This makes enormous sense. We are already at war in Ukraine and across the Middle East, while China, the most dangerous aggressor, has been ratcheting up its bullying and threats against its neighbors whom we have pledged to defend.” (04/11/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/11/resisting-invasion/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Serious Trouble, 04/12/25
Source: Serious Trouble
“Please Explain What You Mean By ‘Effectuate.” (04/12/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/please-explain-what-you-mean-by-effectuate
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52) The Anarchist Experience, episode 523
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich & MC discuss the Alien distraction, the troll confuses everyone with mixed analogies, and these HEADLINES: 12,000 Brits arrested per year over social media posts … UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill.” (04/12/25)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2025/04/12/the-anarchist-experience-523/
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53) Quillette Podcast, episode 280
Source: Quillette
“The Trouble with Tariffs.” (04/12/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/04/12/podcast-280-the-trouble-with-tariffs-economics-trump/
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54) Unattended Baggage, episode 289
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Betting on a coin toss? Better know physics.” (04/12/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-289-hour-1-betting-on-a-coin
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55) The Good Fight, 04/12/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Emily Oster on What’s Gone Wrong with Modern Parenting.” (04/12/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/emily-oster-on-whats-gone-wrong-with
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56) Free Talk Live, 04/12/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Trump brags about weapons :: Could the vaccinated be targeted? :: Should we let the homeless die? :: Carla Gericke assassination attempt :: Gov parasites hate free staters in NH :: Getting married as a good investment :: China selling organs :: Food pyramid propaganda :: Homeschool your kids :: Gold price going up :: Fall of the American family :: Social Security to blame? :: Most politicians are lawyers :: The evil family court system :: 2025-04-12 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Jay Noone, Colin.” (04/12/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2025-04-12
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57) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2631
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“What’s Motivating the Tariffs, and What to Do in a Tariff World.” (04/12/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2631-whats-motivating-the-tariffs-and-what-to-do-in-a-tariff-world/
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58) Conflicts of Interest, episode 784
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Israel Admits Hamas Has 40,000 Fighters, Weapons Production Sites.” (04/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news-roundup/coi-784-israel-admits-hamas-has-40000-fighters-weapons-production-sites
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59) Freakonomics Radio, episode 629
Source: Freakonomics
“How Is Live Theater Still Alive?” (04/11/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-is-live-theater-still-alive/
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60) Nonzero, 04/11/25
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“How Trump could strike a deal with Iran | NonZero World feat. Sina Toossi.” (04/11/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68581
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61) Ted Snider on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Ted Snider on American Operations in Ukraine and the Current State of the War.” (04/11/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/4-10-25-ted-snider-on-american-operations-in-ukraine-and-the-current-state-of-the-war/
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62) The Bryan Hyde Show, 04/11/25
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Ever since I first learned about the writings of Dr. Thomas Szasz, I’ve been skeptical of the therapeutic state. Check out this mind-blowing thread on the Rosenhan Effect and how a Stanford psychologist exposed some very inconvenient truths.” (04/11/25)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-5p762-1879d17
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63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/11/25
Source: The New Republic
“Fox News Accidentally Wrecks Trump’s Tariff Spin as MAGA Panic Worsens.” (04/11/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/193884/fox-news-accidentally-wrecks-trump-tariff-spin-maga-panic-worsens
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64) Brian Wilson Speaks, 04/11/25
Source: Brian Wilson Writes
“‘Alinskyizing’ the Judges.” (04/11/25)
https://brianwilsonwrites.substack.com/p/alinskyizing-the-judges
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65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/11/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Houthi Official Offers Reciprocal Truce With US, Trump Adviser Wants Escalation in Somalia, and More.” (04/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL1bm_s-uS8
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