02/09 -- Japan: Takaichi secures historic supermajority in landslide election victory; For a Better America, Reject Pretty Please Puritanism
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Thomas L. Knapp
Feb 9, 2026, 6:17:12 AM (2 days ago) Feb 9
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 02/09/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Japan: Takaichi secures historic supermajority in landslide election victory
2) Report: Whistle-Blower Report Suppressed by Gabbard Involved Intelligence About a Trump Contact
3) Haiti: Presidential council dissolves after rocky tenure as unelected US-backed ruler remains
4) Palestine: Hamas leader rejects disarmament while Israeli occupation of Gaza continues
5) “Only Trump can stop the war”: Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for acceleration of peace talks
6) CA: Progressive candidate launches last-minute challenge to Karen Bass for LA mayor
7) Border Patrol gang member’s texts after he shot a Chicago woman five times will be released, judge rules
8) MI: State’s Supreme Court blocks legal challenges tied to one-judge “grand juries”
9) Italy: Police arrest protesters after clash in Olympic host city Milan
10) WaPo publisher Will Lewis abruptly resigns amid criticism of staff cuts
11) Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Ransom demand for Savannah Guthrie’s mom is reportedly $6 million
12) Appeals court back’s Trump’s unconstitutional mass detention policy
13) France: Former culture minister resigns over Epstein-linked tax fraud probe
14) Flesh-eating parasite sparks disaster declaration in Texas
15) Three suspects in Russian general’s shooting named, including alleged gunman
16) Sudan: RSF drone attack kills at least 24, doctors’ group says
17) Flying car now for sale for $190,000
18) Grand jury indicts actor Tim Busfield on child sex abuse charges
19) Apps to boycott US goods gained traction in crisis over Greenland
20) Pakistan: Four arrested for “facilitating” Islamabad bombing as victims laid to rest
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) For a Better America, Reject Pretty Please Puritanism
22) Speech That Plays It Safe Does Not Remain Free for Long
23) MAGA’s Second Amendment double standard
24) Under Trump, the “War on Drugs” is a Military Campaign — and It Still Doesn’t Make Sense
25) Does the US Still Have a Constitution?
26) How Long Can America Go on Like This?
27) The Stakes Are Too High To Be This Cringe
28) Political impacts on migration and population shifts within the States
29) The Plutocrats Who Rule Our World Aren’t Even Enjoying Themselves
30) Self-Defeating “Sustainability”
31) Let the morally and financially bankrupt UN perish
32) Minneapolis Demonstrates How to Resist Brutality Without Losing Your Soul
33) The Military’s AI Strategy Threatens Everything We Love
34) Ronald Coase, Abba Lerner, and the Calculation Controversy
35) A Rothbardian Perspective on ICE Agents in Minnesota
36) Louisville Is Making It Easier To Smoke Cigars Indoors
37) Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028
38) The Middle Finger Majority
39) Is Christian nationalism on the march?
40) Prediction Markets and The Ethics of Betting on Bad News
41) AIPAC Coordinates Donors in Illinois House Primaries
42) The Dangers of a Little Learning
43) The Trump Administration Has a Conflicted Relationship with the Second Amendment
44) Damn Those Innovators!
45) The Merit of “Melania”
46) The death of “America First”
47) GOP’s Solution to Corruption: Just Legalize It!
48) Track Record
49) Worker Organizer Abducted By Federal Agents in Minnesota
50) Trump Didn’t Destroy the “Rules-Based International Order”
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 02/07/6
52) Free Talk Live, 02/07/26
53) Unattended Baggage, episode 328
54) Serious Trouble, 02/07/26
55) The Brian Nichols Show, 02/06/26
56) Stop Buying Stadiums for Billionaires!
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 371
58) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2733
59) Rising, 02/06/26
60) The Evil Within, Part 1: Introduction
61) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/06/26
62) Reason Roundtable, 02/06/26
63) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 02/06/26
64) The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 02/06/26
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/06/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Japan: Takaichi secures historic supermajority in landslide election victory
Source: CNN
“Japan’s conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi swept to a landslide victory in a snap election on Sunday, marking a historic turnaround for her party, which had been hemorrhaging voter support in recent years — until she stepped to the helm. Since she was elected more than four months ago – becoming Japan’s first female leader in a country where men have long dominated politics – Takaichi has enjoyed sky high approval ratings and a glowing endorsement from US President Donald Trump. … The LDP won more than 310 of the 465 seats in Japan’s lower house of parliament, marking the first time since World War II that a single party has secured a two-thirds majority. The broader ruling coalition won more than 340 seats.” (02/09/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/08/asia/japan-takaichi-snap-election-exit-polls-intl
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2) Report: Whistle-Blower Report Suppressed by Gabbard Involved Intelligence About a Trump Contact
Source: New York Times
“Members of Congress were briefed this week on a whistle-blower report about an intelligence intercept of a call between two foreign nationals discussing a person close to President Trump, according to people familiar with the material. It is not clear what country the two foreign nationals were from, but the discussion involved Iran. The whistle-blower report was drafted last May, around the time the Trump administration was deliberating about a strike on Iran. Mr. Trump ordered a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. … The whistle-blower accused Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, of limiting who could see the report and of blocking wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies, according to people familiar with the complaint. People who have reviewed the whistle-blower report have differed about the importance of the underlying intelligence, which was collected by the National Security Agency.” (02/07/26)
https://archive.is/CtUxc
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3) Haiti: Presidential council dissolves after rocky tenure as unelected US-backed ruler remains
Source: Associated Press
“Haiti’s presidential council stepped down on Saturday after almost two years of tumultuous rule alongside a U.S.-backed prime minister, who is expected to remain in power as the country prepares for the first general elections in a decade. Days before the nine-member council was dissolved, the U.S. deployed a warship and two U.S. Coast Guard boats to waters near Haiti’s capital, where gangs control 90% of Port-au-Prince. … In late January, two of the council’s most influential members announced that a majority had voted to oust Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, defying calls from the U.S. government to uphold the country’s fragile political stability. Days later, the U.S. government announced visa revocations for four unidentified council members and a Cabinet minister. The council’s plan to oust Fils-Aimé for reasons not made public appeared to fall to the wayside as it stepped down in an official ceremony on Saturday.” (02/07/26)
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-presidential-council-steps-down-us-prime-minister-ab6bc808fc31833038638a76a667d7ed
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4) Palestine: Hamas leader rejects disarmament while Israeli occupation of Gaza continues
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Hamas’s political leader abroad, Khaled Meshaal, has rejected calls to disarm Palestinian factions in Gaza, arguing that stripping weapons from an occupied people would turn them into ‘an easy victim to be eliminated.’ … In the second phase of a US-mediated ‘ceasefire’ deal between Israel and Hamas, agreed in October last year, Washington says it will tackle the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. But Israel continues to carry out near-daily deadly attacks across Gaza in violation of the ‘ceasefire’ and has so far refused to withdraw from the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ in eastern Gaza, an informal boundary separating more than half of the territory that remains under Israeli military control from the rest of the Strip.” (02/08/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/8/hamas-leader-rejects-disarmament-while-israeli-occupation-of-gaza-continues
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5) “Only Trump can stop the war”: Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for acceleration of peace talks
Source: Reuters
“Kyiv’s foreign minister has said the Ukrainian and Russian leaders need to meet in person to hash out the hardest remaining issues in peace talks, and that only U.S. President Donald Trump has the power to bring about an agreement. Ukraine wants to accelerate the efforts to end the four-year-old war and capitalise on momentum in the U.S.-brokered talks before other factors come into play, such as campaigning for the U.S. Congressional mid-term elections in November, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in an interview. ‘Only Trump can stop the war,’ Sybiha told Reuters in his office in Kyiv, close to the Dnipro river. From a 20-point peace plan that has formed the basis of recent trilateral negotiations, only ‘a few’ items remain outstanding, Sybiha said.” (02/08/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-urges-acceleration-peace-talks-says-only-trump-can-broker-deal-2026-02-08/
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6) CA: Progressive candidate launches last-minute challenge to Karen Bass for LA mayor
Source: The Hill
“Progressive Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman (D) on Saturday made a last-minute bid to challenge Mayor Karen Bass (D) in the June primary election. Raman made the announcement hours before the 12 p.m. filing deadline for candidates be on the ballot. She praised Bass in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, calling the mayor ‘an icon’ but said the city needs someone who will tackle its problems. … Raman was the first of three candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America to win seats on the city council, followed by Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez. Raman defeated former City Councilmember David Ryu in 2020 and was reelected in 2024.” (02/07/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5728127-nithya-raman-challenges-mayor-bass/
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7) Border Patrol gang member’s texts after he shot a Chicago woman five times will be released, judge rules
Source: NBC News
“The text messages a Border Patrol agent sent to colleagues and family members after he repeatedly shot a Chicago woman in October can be released to the public, a federal judge ruled Friday. In messages previously made public, the agent bragged about his marksmanship. U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis stated in court that the text messages provide insight into the agent’s and the Department of Homeland Security’s credibility, as well as into how DHS leadership perceived the shooting. The agent, Charles Exum, shot Marimar Martinez five times on Oct. 4, after she allegedly rammed her car into agents’ vehicles. Martinez denies ramming them and said agents were the aggressors. Exum did not have his body camera turned on during the incident. In one text message previously released, he bragged about his shooting skills, writing: ‘I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.'” (02/07/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/border-patrol-marimar-martinez-shooting-chicago-text-message-release-rcna257765
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8) MI: State’s Supreme Court blocks legal challenges tied to one-judge “grand juries”
Source: Detroit News
“In a case with a potentially far-reaching impact, the Michigan Supreme Court has closed the door on a wave of post-conviction challenges tied to the state’s use of judges as one-person grand juries. In the unanimous opinion issued Feb. 4 and written by Justice Elizabeth Welch, the court said that its 2022 decision restricting the use of one-man grand juries, which curtailed prosecutions in the Flint Water Crisis, does not apply retroactively to cases that are already final. The court held that defendants convicted years ago cannot rely on its earlier ruling in People v. Peeler to reopen their cases simply because they were charged through a one-person grand jury rather than given a preliminary examination. The case before the court involved Todd Douglas Robinson, who was convicted in 2013 of first-degree premeditated murder and felony-firearm in what was allegedly a drug deal gone bad.” (02/07/26)
https://archive.is/sI7XY
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9) Italy: Police arrest protesters after clash in Olympic host city Milan
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Six people have been arrested after police clashed with protesters in Milan, one of the hosts of the Winter Olympic Games, during the first day of the competition. Thousands took to the streets of the city in northern Italy on Saturday to protest against a range of issues including the cost of living. Some released fireworks and threw stones at police, who responded with water cannon. It comes after the government tightened protest laws in the wake of a demonstration last weekend in Turin that left more than 100 officers injured, according to government figures. Meanwhile, officials are investigating suspected sabotage on northern Italy’s railway network on Saturday.” 902/08/26)
https://archive.is/pXhja
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10) WaPo publisher Will Lewis abruptly resigns amid criticism of staff cuts
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Will Lewis, the Murdoch media veteran who took over as publisher and chief executive of the Washington Post in early 2024, announced abruptly on Saturday evening that he is leaving the company. His departure comes just three days after the Post laid off nearly one-third of its entire staff, citing the need to cut costs and reposition the money-losing publication. Lewis, who did not appear on the all-staff meeting during which the cuts were announced, has faced criticism for his absence and leadership. … [Jeff] Bezos, who has owned the Post since 2013, and who has received heavy criticism in recent days for his stewardship of the publication, released a statement touting the Post and its new leadership team – without addressing Lewis’s tenure overseeing the company.” (02/07/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/washington-post-will-lewis-resigns
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11) Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Ransom demand for Savannah Guthrie’s mom is reportedly $6 million
Source: Fox News
“A local TV station reports that the potential kidnappers of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of ‘Today’ host Savannah Guthrie, sent in a ransom note with a threatening demand for millions for dollars in exchange for the 84-year-old’s safe return. KGUN 9 in Tucson reported that it received a note that demanded $6 million before 5 p.m. local time Monday and threatened Nancy Guthrie’s life if the family does not meet the deadline. The station previously reported that it and other media outlets had each received a ransom note demanding several million dollars in Bitcoin. The report comes as Savannah Guthrie posted a new video to Instagram on Saturday, saying her family had received a message and was pleading for the return of their missing mother. The family did not detail what this message said.” (02/08/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/nancy-guthrie-disappearance-arizona-feb-8-live-updates
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12) Appeals court back’s Trump’s unconstitutional mass detention policy
Source: Politico
“A federal appeals court Friday night backed the Trump administration’s policy to lock up the vast majority of people it is seeking to deport without offering a chance for bond, even if they have no criminal records and have resided in the country for decades. A divided three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the administration’s view — a reversal of every administration’s position for the last 30 years — is the correct interpretation of the federal government’s power to detain people targeted for deportation.” [editor’s note: The Constitution forbids excessive bail — no opportunity for bail at all is by definition excessive – TLK] (02/06//26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/06/trump-mass-detention-5th-circuit-00770361
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13) France: Former culture minister resigns over Epstein-linked tax fraud probe
Source: SFGate
“France’s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation. He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President François Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s. Lang, 86, was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his resignation.” (02/08/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/france-s-former-culture-minister-resigns-over-21341082.php
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14) Flesh-eating parasite sparks disaster declaration in Texas
Source: New York Post
“Texas will not get screwed by the flesh-eating parasite known as the screwworm — with Gov. Greg Abbott declaring a preemptive disaster declaration before the devastating organism even gets to the Lone Star State. The New World Screwworm, a fly which can burrow into and feed on living tissue, has been steadily making its way north from Central and Southern America, officials said. … Abbott is also ordering state agencies to gear up before the parasite arrives, directing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission to form a joint New World Screwworm Response Team.” (02/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/07/us-news/flesh-eating-parasite-sparks-disaster-declaration-in-texas/
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15) Three suspects in Russian general’s shooting named, including alleged gunman
Source: BBC News [Uk state media]
“Russia says it has identified three suspects involved in the shooting of high-profile military general Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev. They include the man said to have carried out the attack, who has been named as Ukrainian-born Russian citizen Lyubomir Korba. Russia’s Investigations Committee (SK) said Korba arrived in the capital, Moscow, in late December ‘on assignment from Ukrainian intelligence services to commit a terrorist attack.’ Kyiv has reportedly denied involvement. … Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said on Sunday that his attacker had fired three shots before fleeing and that Korba travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hours after the shooting. He has since been arrested and extradited.” (02/08/26)
https://archive.is/gonQu
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16) Sudan: RSF drone attack kills at least 24, doctors’ group says
Source: ABC News
“A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said. The attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war. The vehicle transported displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area of North Kordofan, the doctors’ group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants, the group said.” (02/07/28)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/drone-attack-paramilitary-group-sudan-kills-24-including-129943866
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17) Flying car now for sale for $190,000
Source: Fox News
“A future with flying cars no longer lives just in concept videos. It now lives in Palo Alto, and if you have about $200,000 plus patience, you can reserve one today. The company behind that future vehicle is Pivotal, a California company that has quietly spent more than a decade turning a radical idea into a real aircraft. Its latest creation, called Helix, is now open for reservations, and delivery could be less than a year away. Yes, this is an actual flying car you can buy.” (02/08/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/flying-car-now-sale-190000
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18) Grand jury indicts actor Tim Busfield on child sex abuse charges
Source: United Press International
“A New Mexico grand jury on Friday indicted actor Timothy Busfield on four counts that accuse him of criminal sexual contact of a child. Each charge carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison if Busfield, 68, is found guilty, according to New Mexico law. … He has pleaded not guilty to all charges filed against him after allegations by two boys who had been cast members of the Fox television series The Cleaning Lady, in which Busfield acted and directed from 2022 to 2024. Busfield accused the mother of the two boys of falsely accusing him because he did not cast the two boys in the series’ final season.” (02/06/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/02/06/tim-busfield-indicted/7991770417437/
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19) Apps to boycott US goods gained traction in crisis over Greenland
Source: SFGate
“The makers of mobile apps designed to help shoppers identify and boycott American goods say they saw a surge of interest in Denmark and beyond after the recent flare-up in tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland. The creator of the ‘Made O’Meter’ app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis in late January out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March. Rosenfeldt, who lives in Copenhagen and works in digital marketing, decided to create the app a year ago after joining a Facebook group of like-minded Danes hoping to boycott U.S. goods.” (02/08/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/greenland-crisis-boosted-danish-apps-designed-to-21341015.php
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20) Pakistan: Four arrested for “facilitating” Islamabad bombing as victims laid to rest
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Pakistan’s military says it has arrested four ‘facilitators’ who helped the attacker in Friday’s deadly Islamabad mosque bombing as authorities intensify a security crackdown amid rising concerns over cross-border attacks. Thousands of mourners gathered in the capital on Saturday to bury the victims of the attack, which killed at least 32 worshippers and injured 170 others, officials said. … The military alleged that the ‘planning, training, and indoctrination for the attack took place in Afghanistan,’ adding that under ‘Afghan Taliban patronage, extremist groups continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global peace.'” (02/07/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/7/thousands-mourn-32-victims-of-islamabad-shia-mosque-bombing-in-pakistan
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) For a Better America, Reject Pretty Please Puritanism
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Moral panic — defined on Wikipedia as ‘a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society’ — has become our chief political currency. It’s in the driver’s seat. It has the wheel. And it manifests as a form of puritanism, also conveniently defined by Mencken: ‘The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.’ We can’t have that! Something must be done! There oughtta be a law! And the laws always come down less to prohibition than to permission.” (02/08/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20364
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22) Speech That Plays It Safe Does Not Remain Free for Long
Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia
“Whether one thinks protesting in the streets of Minneapolis is a wise action or not, it remains the case that Americans have a right to vigorously protest the actions of the state, and not fear being killed for it. In fact, it was Justice Douglas’s opinion that ‘the right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs,’ is ‘one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes.’ To believe, whether implicitly or explicitly, that public protests are only justified when complainants protest quietly, or when the government deems the protests appropriate, or when the victims are lionized by the administration and its backers, is to give far too much credit to the state.” (02/07/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/s/
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23) MAGA’s Second Amendment double standard
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“For my entire adult life, I’ve listened to self-described ‘constitutional’ conservatives strut around like God’s gift to the nation’s conscience, as they lecture everyone on the importance of upholding the original intent of America’s founding document. They’ve been oddly silent as Donald Trump’s administration directly assaults the Constitution. He’s not the first one to do it, but he is doing so more brazenly than others. Even if some ‘whataboutism’ is appropriate, wouldn’t it be more consistent for conservatives to criticize these assaults just as they criticized previous assaults under Joe Biden and Barack Obama? Cheering — or remaining silent — as ICE agents arrest those who photograph them (First Amendment), carry out warrantless searches (Fourth Amendment), and ignore the directives of governors (10th Amendment) is the definition of hypocrisy.” (02/06/26)
https://archive.is/jE96n
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24) Under Trump, the “War on Drugs” is a Military Campaign — and It Still Doesn’t Make Sense
Source: Cato Institute
by Peter Goettler
“The recent expansion of the drug war into military action underscores a deeper problem: a longstanding policy with costs that are concrete, immense and well documented, while its benefits remain vague and modest.” (02/06/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/under-trump-war-drugs-military-campaign-it-still-doesnt-make-sense
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25) Does the US Still Have a Constitution?
Source: Judging Freedom
by Andrew P Napolitano
“Formally, the United States still has a Constitution. We still have the three branches of government. Congress still has the House of Representatives and the Senate. The president is still elected by the Electoral College. The courts still function to resolve disputes and to define what the laws mean and what the Constitution means. Yet, thanks in large measure to the public fear and mania in the war on drugs in the 1980s and 1990s, the war on terror in the 2000s and 2010s, and now the war on immigrants, functionally, Congress found it easy to cut constitutional corners and to look the other way as one crisis after another has led to the expansion of executive powers and the erosion of personal freedoms.” (02/06/26)
https://archive.is/YtOCJ
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26) How Long Can America Go on Like This?
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“There is an unbridgeable gap in the United States right now between two people with polar opposite views of the world, its purpose, man’s place in it, and what the country should be in the future. And nobody can sit on the fence; you are on one side or another. ‘You are either for me or against me,’ Jesus said, and that is the situation every American faces right now, regarding the future and destiny of the nation. The Left isn’t going to change, folks. They are, for the foreseeable and indefinite future, rooted in their beliefs and ideology, and they aren’t going to be converted.” [editor’s note: Nor, I suspect, will Mark Lewis turn his life around, start rejecting the glamour of evil, and refuse to be further mastered by sin – TLK] (02/07/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/02/07/how-long-can-america-go-on-like-this-n2670824
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27) The Stakes Are Too High To Be This Cringe
Source: Persuasion
by Leonora Barclay
“Are you sitting down? There’s big news from the Democratic Party. No, they haven’t developed a coherent plan to address ICE shooting civilians on American streets. Nor have they much to say about Trump’s foreign policy, which is so disruptive that it forced European nations to remember they have armies and deploy troops to Greenland. No, this is much more important for the country. Kamala Harris has released a video. … Harris is right that Democrats have struggled to keep momentum going after 2024. But the solution isn’t to pretend that a glossy website counts as a genuine gameplan. As the Democrats’ cringey YouTube channel showed us, the issue isn’t a lack of content. It’s a lack of substance.” (02/07/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-democrats-are-still-lost
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28) Political impacts on migration and population shifts within the States
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Yes, the Big Three Woke States (California, New York, and Illinois) all lost population. Note this is despite the influx of border jumpers into those States during Uncle Joe’s reign. But at the most causal observation, it is clear that many other Woke ‘Democratic Party stronghold’ States did have population growth. Particularly note Delaware, with 7.1% but even the Great Lake States (MN, WI, and MI), Washington State, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona had increases. Which apparently are mostly additions to their big urban areas. Their rural and frontier areas show little growth.” (02/07/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/02/07/political-impacts-on-migration-and-population-shifts-within-the-states/
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29) The Plutocrats Who Rule Our World Aren’t Even Enjoying Themselves
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I saw a tweet by Elon Musk the other day: ‘Whoever said ‘money can’t buy happiness’ really knew what they were talking about.’ He put a sadface emoji at the end. I personally do not feel the slightest bit sorry for Elon Musk and his feelings. But the fact that these billionaires aren’t even enjoying themselves as they poison our planet and rob us all says so much about the madness of the civilization we are living in. I mean, think about it. It’s not even making them happy. … It would be terrible if these obscenely wealthy oligarchs were robbing everyone else of happiness in order to make themselves exponentially happier than all of us. But they’re not even making themselves happy. They’re fucking miserable. Everyone involved in this abusive dynamic is suffering from it — even the abusers.” (02/07/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/07/the-plutocrats-who-rule-our-world-arent-even-enjoying-themselves/
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30) Self-Defeating “Sustainability”
Source: Quillette
by Henry I Miller
“The sustainable agriculture movement’s ideological opposition to biotechnology undermines genuine environmental progress and food security.” (02/08/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/02/08/self-defeating-sustainability-agriculture-environment/
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31) Let the morally and financially bankrupt UN perish
Source: New York Post
by Paul du Quenoy
“‘Imminent financial collapse,’ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres hysterically predicted in a Jan. 29 letter to all UN member states, saying his reputationally challenged organization is so cash-strapped that it will run out of money by July, close its iconic Manhattan headquarters in August and cancel its annual General Assembly meeting in September. Most UN functions, including its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which claims to coordinate responses to global emergencies, may also sunset in the coming months due to lack of funds. This gushing cavalcade of good news sounds more like a promise than a warning.” (02/07/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/07/opinion/let-the-morally-and-financially-bankrupt-united-nations-perish/
-----
32) Minneapolis Demonstrates How to Resist Brutality Without Losing Your Soul
Source: The UnPopulist
by Emily Chamlee-Wright & Jason S Canon
“‘These are the times that try men’s souls.’ That’s how Thomas Paine opened The American Crisis in 1776. The Declaration of Independence narrates the origins of that crisis: a tyrant choosing private gain over public good, usurping legislative authority, stifling immigration, cutting off trade, bending the judiciary, and sending ‘hither swarms of Officers to harass our people.’ 250 years later, surveying the aftermath of the ICE surge in Minneapolis, we know what Paine meant. … we’d like to follow Paine in turning soulward. How do we bear witness and resist without letting our shock and outrage corrupt who we are? We’re not here to tell anyone what or how to feel. Rather, we want to explore two traditions of directing our feelings toward inner and outer peace.” (02/06/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/minneapolis-demonstrates-how-to-resist
-----
33) The Military’s AI Strategy Threatens Everything We Love
Source: Common Dreams
by Chris Jeske
“As did many fellow Americans, I chuckled when President Trump announced the creation of the US Space Force on December 20, 2019. I even remember laughing heartily while taking in the late-night circuit’s many Star Trek jokes that day. Yet, I had mostly forgotten that the Space Force still exists until last week when Secretary of War Pete Hegseth started a policy speech alongside Elon Musk at SpaceX’s headquarters by flashing the Vulcan salute and affirming Musk’s desire to ‘make Star Trek real.’ The absurdity of Musk’s introduction (in which he spoke of ‘going beyond our star system to other star systems, where we may meet aliens or discover long dead alien civilizations’ as if this could happen in any of our lifetimes) belied the seriousness of the new U.S. Military Artificial Intelligence strategy that Secretary Hegseth proceeded to announce.” (02/07/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/threats-of-ai-use-by-military
-----
34) Ronald Coase, Abba Lerner, and the Calculation Controversy
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“The Calculation Controversy was an extended debate between a group of free market economists, including Ludwig von Mises and Friederich Hayek, and a group of socialist economists including Abba Lerner and Oskar Lange. It was set off by Mises’ article Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth, which argued that without markets and trade, rational economic calculation was impossible. The most interesting response from the socialist side was the Lerner and Lange’s model of socialism with markets.” (02/06/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ronald-coase-abba-lerner-and-the
-----
35) A Rothbardian Perspective on ICE Agents in Minnesota
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Conor Sanderson
“In today’s divided political landscape, opinions on the actions of ICE agents in Minnesota are sharply split. However, turning to the insights of Murray Rothbard offers a thoughtful and critical perspective. Although Rothbard never encountered ICE agents during his lifetime, his writings suggest he would likely criticize the violent actions of these agents in Minnesota. Rothbard would probably see them as symbols of state aggression and institutionalized coercion.” (02/06/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/rothbardian-perspective-ice-agents-minnesota
-----
36) Louisville Is Making It Easier To Smoke Cigars Indoors
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Jacob Grier
“Bourbon and tobacco are two products practically synonymous with Kentucky. Pairing them indoors within the state’s borders, however, is surprisingly difficult. Forty-four cities and counties throughout the state have implemented comprehensive indoor smoking bans. But a whiff of change is in the air: Last year, Louisville passed an exemption for cigar bars, and a new bill in the legislature could legalize them statewide.” (02/06/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/grier-louisville-cigars/
-----
37) Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In the dystopian novel ‘1984’, George Orwell wrote, ‘The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’ The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the greatest boondoggle in history: his high-speed train to nowhere. Without laying a single yard of track after burning $12 billion, Newsom showed a diesel freight train on a conventional track to create the appearance of a working railroad. I have been writing about this boondoggle for years. Newsom promised years ago that the project would be transformative. It was, but not as he promised.” (02/07/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-grandstanding-newsom-stop-nothing-ride-rails-glory-2028
-----
38) The Middle Finger Majority
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“Republicans keep making excuses. The Texas State Senate special election was about local issues, a bad candidate, and infighting. The Georgia State House special election was about local issues, a bad candidate, infighting, and state party incompetence. That is eight state legislative elections the GOP lost in Republican seats. Republicans have lost Republican seats in Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, and other reliably Republican states. To tell Republicans this is to be an apostate. They simply do not want to hear it. Like the Democrats before them, Republican dreams of a majority are built now on lies they tell themselves.” (02/06/26)
https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/the-middle-finger-majority
-----
39) Is Christian nationalism on the march?
Source: spiked
by Georgina Mumford
“From the hectoring TradCaths to Tommy Robinson’s carol services, mixing faith and politics damages both.” (02/07/26)
https://archive.is/ZTojS
-----
40) Prediction Markets and The Ethics of Betting on Bad News
Source: The Daily Economy
by Christopher Freiman
“The main moral objection to prediction markets seems to be that it’s wrong to profit from someone’s misfortune. And intuitively there does seem to be something immoral about raking in thousands of dollars because you correctly predicted that a hurricane would hit a particular city or a particular war would break out, resulting in tremendous amounts of suffering. As Moscrop puts it, ‘Bettors will hold financial stakes in particular outcomes, including some of the most heinous events imaginable. It’s a fundamentally cynical and dehumanizing turn.’ But as natural as the gut-level unease with prediction markets is, we shouldn’t trust it. Prediction markets are both useful and morally benign. Prediction markets are useful precisely because they incentivize accurate forecasting.” (02/06/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-ethics-of-betting-on-future-bad-news/
-----
41) AIPAC Coordinates Donors in Illinois House Primaries
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen & Ryan Grim
“With Israel’s reputation reaching record lows among Democrats, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is resorting to ever more sophisticated methods to support its preferred candidates while cloaking its own involvement. The amount of money that the premier pro-Israel organization is able to spend in elections is extraordinarily valuable to candidates who would otherwise have little chance of winning. But it now comes with a catch: If voters know the money comes from an organization advocating on behalf of Israel, it can do more harm than good. AIPAC road-tested its stealth approach in a 2024 House primary in Oregon that pitted Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), against physician Maxine Dexter. Dexter raised relatively little money throughout much of her campaign, then saw a last-minute deluge organized by AIPAC coupled with outside spending through super PACs, which themselves turned out to be funded by AIPAC.” (02/06/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/06/aipac-coordinates-donors-in-illinois-house-primaries/
-----
42) The Dangers of a Little Learning
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia
“In the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the genetically engineered superhuman, Khan Noonien Singh, is discovered in his exile on Ceti Alpha V with a bookshelf populated by the Bible, Dante’s Inferno, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Melville’s Moby Dick. His last words in the film are taken straight out of the latter, as the revenge-obsessed Khan murmurs to his nemesis, Captain James T. Kirk: ‘From hell’s heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.’ In the film Die Hard, the ruthless East German terrorist, Hans Gruber, also proclaims himself to be well read: ‘And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer,’ Gruber says, with the aside: ‘Benefits of a classical education.’ Reading great books does not necessarily make you a good person.” (02/06/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-dangers-of-a-little-learning/
-----
43) The Trump Administration Has a Conflicted Relationship with the Second Amendment
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“The Trump administration has a problem when it comes to the Second Amendment. A large part of its base consists of people who firmly believe in the right to keep and bear arms. But that right, as protected by the Second Amendment, empowers the individual and stands as a challenge to the authority of the state. This creates an awkward situation for a president and his coterie who don’t like being challenged or even criticized. That’s why we see administration officials arguing in favor of self-defense rights one moment while challenging the right to keep and bear arms at another.” (02/06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/06/the-trump-administration-has-a-conflicted-relationship-with-the-second-amendment/
-----
44) Damn Those Innovators!
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Our lives are improved in all sorts of ways by courageous, risk-bearing entrepreneurs, who seek to change the world at a profit. For that reason alone, we should jealously safeguard an environment friendly to entrepreneurship. As the economic historian Deirdre McCloskey has shown through indefatigable research, when society is marred by envy of the richer and highly successful, we all suffer. Widespread prosperity soars, McCloskey demonstrates, when a culture in effect erects huge neon signs brightly flashing the message, ‘You think you have a great idea? Well, give it a go!’ That is not how people have felt through most of history. Envy that bred a fear of pioneers smothered innovation.” (02/06/26)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/tgif-damn-those-innovators.html
-----
45) The Merit of “Melania”
Source: The Pamphleteer
by Jerod Hollyfield
“The opening chords of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ wash over a drone shot of Mar-a-Lago. As the camera shifts to a set of black high heels and then tilts up to the once-and-future First Lady, Mick Jagger screams ‘War, children, It’s just a shot away. It’s just a shot away.’ This is not a typical moment in what’s come to pass for a documentary in 2025: an endless stream of brooding explanations of lefty issues or recreations of murders rubber stamped for Netflix with overwrought scores. … But it’s this naked, smug lefty do-gooderism that has eroded the documentary form for the last two decades …” (02/06/25)
https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/the-merit-of-melania/
-----
46) The death of “America First”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“The Trump phenomenon was supposed to be a changing of the old Republican guard, however imperfectly, for a new foreign policy ethos that was closer to Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul than Bill Kristol and David Frum. That’s exactly why so many neoconservatives and War Party Republicans got behind the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. So seven years ago, when Bolton tried to redefine Donald Trump’s America First brand as a continuation of McCain-Bush interventionism, I laughed. Did Bolton really think the conservative base was this gullible? I’m not laughing anymore. Hawks, including old neoconservatives, now present pro-war interventionism as America First all the time.” (02/06/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/america-first-trump/
-----
47) GOP’s Solution to Corruption: Just Legalize It!
Source: CounterPunch
by Jim Hightower
“If you’re ever asked to define the word oxymoron, just say ‘Congressional ethics.’ People instinctively burst out guffawing at the absurdity of linking Congress to upright behavior. But surprisingly, Republican congressional leaders say they’re now taking a bold stand for a little less corruption among their own members, targeting lawmakers who’ve been secretly enriching themselves through ‘insider stock trading.’ … recently, the party’s designated ethics watchdog, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), rose on his hind legs to introduce the Stop Insider Trading Act. ‘If you want to trade stocks,’ Steil howled in operatic outrage, ‘go to Wall Street.’ Bravissimo! Except it was a fraud. Far from stopping the self-enriching stock scams of lawmakers like Bresnahan, Steil’s bill basically legalizes their corrupt transactions.” (02/06/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/06/gops-solution-to-corruption-just-legalize-it/
-----
48) Track Record
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Spain receives much well-deserved praise for its rail network, the second-largest in the world after China’s, with around 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of high-speed track. Rail travel in the Iberian country now accounts for 56% of all travel, more than road and air combined, with high-speed services connecting over fifty Spanish cities. In 2009, then-US President Barack Obama credited the 470-kilometer (292-mile) line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville — the country’s first high-speed service, opened in 1992 — as one of the inspirations for creating a network of comparable efficiency across America. But after four incidents in less than a week, public trust in Spain’s world-class network has been shaken.” (02/06/26)
https://fee.org/articles/track-record/
-----
49) Worker Organizer Abducted By Federal Agents in Minnesota
Source: In These Times
by Sarah Lazare
“Federal immigration agents have abducted Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, a workers’ rights organizer well known in Minnesota for fighting wage theft and labor trafficking. His attorney and son say he is currently held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, run by CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States. For the first time, his family is going to the press as community support for his release is swelling. All we care about is having him back with us, at home in Minnesota,’ his son, Gerardo Orozco Guzman, told me. ’That’s all we want.’ Our interview followed a judge’s ruling in the District Court of Minnesota on Wednesday that denied and dismissed Orozco Verdusco’s habeas corpus petition challenging his unlawful detention.” (02/06/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/worker-organizer-abducted-immigration-minneapolis
-----
50) Trump Didn’t Destroy the “Rules-Based International Order”
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Accusations have burgeoned that President Donald Trump is determined to destroy the ‘rules-based international order’ established after World War II. Some of his actions certainly resemble old-style, 19th century imperialism. His initial demand that Denmark sell Greenland to the United States fits that description. One could readily envision previous presidents such as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, or William McKinley making a similar move for U.S. territorial aggrandizement. Trump is a rather unashamed imperialist, willing to use threats or even military force to bully other nations. However, despite the recent surge in warnings around the world (especially in Europe) that his actions are wrecking an effective, rules-based international system, that allegation is unfounded. The so-called rules-based system that the United States and its Western allies established has always been fraudulent and self-serving.” (02/06/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-didnt-destroy-the-rules-based-international-order/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 02/07/6
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Discussion on Christian fascist puff piece ‘What is Christian Nationalism?'” (02/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7ZhhsH1qE
-----
52) Free Talk Live, 02/07/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Trump posted a racist video of the Obamas :: Steph Curry an Israeli intelligence agent? :: Update on OpenAI sending subpoenas to people who talked to their employees :: Suing someone just to waste their time and money :: AI likely headed toward financial bubble :: Bonnie found Epstein email of JE making fun of Ross Ulbricht after arrest :: Tech companies to replace banks as secretive rulers of the world :: Zionism 2.0 :: Venezuela’s prison for torture revealed after Maduro arrest :: Speeding cameras of different sorts :: WhistlinDiesel arrested in TN for Montana plates :: 2026-02-07 Hosts: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (02/07/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-02-07
-----
53) Unattended Baggage, episode 328
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Monkeys & Russians & Pedos, oh my!” (02/07/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-328-monkeys-and-russians
-----
54) Serious Trouble, 02/07/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Court Therapy.” (02/07/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/court-therapy
-----
55) The Brian Nichols Show, 02/06/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Dr. Mike IGNORES Science? The Vaccine Debate He WON’T Have.” (02/06/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-dr-mike-ignores-science-the-vaccine-debate-he-wont-have
-----
56) Stop Buying Stadiums for Billionaires!
Source: Reason
“If sports is a trillion dollar industry, with billionaire team owners and millionaire players, and hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic fans, and weird pervert mascot creatures, why is the government giving them your money?” (02/06/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/02/06/stop-buying-stadiums-for-billionaires/
-----
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 371
Source: Free the People
“DOJ’s Epstein Files Release Reveals Deep Corruption | Guest: Rep. Thomas Massie.” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRaE58LPd3w
-----
58) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2733
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Selections from my Right-Wing Library.” (02/06/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2733-selections-from-my-right-wing-library/
-----
59) Rising, 02/06/26
Source: The Hill
“President Trump appeared to suggest that immigration agents could have used a ‘softer touch’ in their operation in Minnesota, sparking concern from some Republican lawmakers like Rep. Byron Donalds.” (02/06/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5720515-rising-february-6-2026/
-----
60) The Evil Within, Part 1: Introduction
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“In this introductory segment of Jacob’s new 10-part series ‘The Evil Within,’ Jacob explains that he will explore the concept of evil that has come to pervade nine important systems within the federal government. He shows why it is necessary to excise these evil systems from the federal government in order to get America back on the right track — toward freedom, peace, prosperity, morality, and harmony.” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqXbJKt9BsY
-----
61) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/06/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Voluntary Multipolar Globalization vs. Tyrannical Unipolar Globalization.” (02/06/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1zqKVdYBOedJB
-----
62) Reason Roundtable, 02/06/26
Source: Reason
“Do Republicans Want To Control Elections?” (02/06/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/02/06/do-republicans-want-to-control-elections/
-----
63) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 02/06/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Brian Rankin, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Time to Kill the Equal Time Rule.'” (02/06/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-02-07_zfw002062026.mp3
-----
64) The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 02/06/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump Is Treating Elections Like Crimes (w/ Elliot Williams).” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wty0rJ5yTAQ
-----
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/06/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Netanyahu: ‘Conditions’ in Place for Iran Regime Change, Trump Says No New START Extension, and More.” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPs0p30Kxtg
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Japan: Takaichi secures historic supermajority in landslide election victory
2) Report: Whistle-Blower Report Suppressed by Gabbard Involved Intelligence About a Trump Contact
3) Haiti: Presidential council dissolves after rocky tenure as unelected US-backed ruler remains
4) Palestine: Hamas leader rejects disarmament while Israeli occupation of Gaza continues
5) “Only Trump can stop the war”: Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for acceleration of peace talks
6) CA: Progressive candidate launches last-minute challenge to Karen Bass for LA mayor
7) Border Patrol gang member’s texts after he shot a Chicago woman five times will be released, judge rules
8) MI: State’s Supreme Court blocks legal challenges tied to one-judge “grand juries”
9) Italy: Police arrest protesters after clash in Olympic host city Milan
10) WaPo publisher Will Lewis abruptly resigns amid criticism of staff cuts
11) Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Ransom demand for Savannah Guthrie’s mom is reportedly $6 million
12) Appeals court back’s Trump’s unconstitutional mass detention policy
13) France: Former culture minister resigns over Epstein-linked tax fraud probe
14) Flesh-eating parasite sparks disaster declaration in Texas
15) Three suspects in Russian general’s shooting named, including alleged gunman
16) Sudan: RSF drone attack kills at least 24, doctors’ group says
17) Flying car now for sale for $190,000
18) Grand jury indicts actor Tim Busfield on child sex abuse charges
19) Apps to boycott US goods gained traction in crisis over Greenland
20) Pakistan: Four arrested for “facilitating” Islamabad bombing as victims laid to rest
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) For a Better America, Reject Pretty Please Puritanism
22) Speech That Plays It Safe Does Not Remain Free for Long
23) MAGA’s Second Amendment double standard
24) Under Trump, the “War on Drugs” is a Military Campaign — and It Still Doesn’t Make Sense
25) Does the US Still Have a Constitution?
26) How Long Can America Go on Like This?
27) The Stakes Are Too High To Be This Cringe
28) Political impacts on migration and population shifts within the States
29) The Plutocrats Who Rule Our World Aren’t Even Enjoying Themselves
30) Self-Defeating “Sustainability”
31) Let the morally and financially bankrupt UN perish
32) Minneapolis Demonstrates How to Resist Brutality Without Losing Your Soul
33) The Military’s AI Strategy Threatens Everything We Love
34) Ronald Coase, Abba Lerner, and the Calculation Controversy
35) A Rothbardian Perspective on ICE Agents in Minnesota
36) Louisville Is Making It Easier To Smoke Cigars Indoors
37) Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028
38) The Middle Finger Majority
39) Is Christian nationalism on the march?
40) Prediction Markets and The Ethics of Betting on Bad News
41) AIPAC Coordinates Donors in Illinois House Primaries
42) The Dangers of a Little Learning
43) The Trump Administration Has a Conflicted Relationship with the Second Amendment
44) Damn Those Innovators!
45) The Merit of “Melania”
46) The death of “America First”
47) GOP’s Solution to Corruption: Just Legalize It!
48) Track Record
49) Worker Organizer Abducted By Federal Agents in Minnesota
50) Trump Didn’t Destroy the “Rules-Based International Order”
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 02/07/6
52) Free Talk Live, 02/07/26
53) Unattended Baggage, episode 328
54) Serious Trouble, 02/07/26
55) The Brian Nichols Show, 02/06/26
56) Stop Buying Stadiums for Billionaires!
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 371
58) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2733
59) Rising, 02/06/26
60) The Evil Within, Part 1: Introduction
61) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/06/26
62) Reason Roundtable, 02/06/26
63) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 02/06/26
64) The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 02/06/26
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/06/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Japan: Takaichi secures historic supermajority in landslide election victory
Source: CNN
“Japan’s conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi swept to a landslide victory in a snap election on Sunday, marking a historic turnaround for her party, which had been hemorrhaging voter support in recent years — until she stepped to the helm. Since she was elected more than four months ago – becoming Japan’s first female leader in a country where men have long dominated politics – Takaichi has enjoyed sky high approval ratings and a glowing endorsement from US President Donald Trump. … The LDP won more than 310 of the 465 seats in Japan’s lower house of parliament, marking the first time since World War II that a single party has secured a two-thirds majority. The broader ruling coalition won more than 340 seats.” (02/09/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/08/asia/japan-takaichi-snap-election-exit-polls-intl
-----
2) Report: Whistle-Blower Report Suppressed by Gabbard Involved Intelligence About a Trump Contact
Source: New York Times
“Members of Congress were briefed this week on a whistle-blower report about an intelligence intercept of a call between two foreign nationals discussing a person close to President Trump, according to people familiar with the material. It is not clear what country the two foreign nationals were from, but the discussion involved Iran. The whistle-blower report was drafted last May, around the time the Trump administration was deliberating about a strike on Iran. Mr. Trump ordered a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. … The whistle-blower accused Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, of limiting who could see the report and of blocking wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies, according to people familiar with the complaint. People who have reviewed the whistle-blower report have differed about the importance of the underlying intelligence, which was collected by the National Security Agency.” (02/07/26)
https://archive.is/CtUxc
-----
3) Haiti: Presidential council dissolves after rocky tenure as unelected US-backed ruler remains
Source: Associated Press
“Haiti’s presidential council stepped down on Saturday after almost two years of tumultuous rule alongside a U.S.-backed prime minister, who is expected to remain in power as the country prepares for the first general elections in a decade. Days before the nine-member council was dissolved, the U.S. deployed a warship and two U.S. Coast Guard boats to waters near Haiti’s capital, where gangs control 90% of Port-au-Prince. … In late January, two of the council’s most influential members announced that a majority had voted to oust Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, defying calls from the U.S. government to uphold the country’s fragile political stability. Days later, the U.S. government announced visa revocations for four unidentified council members and a Cabinet minister. The council’s plan to oust Fils-Aimé for reasons not made public appeared to fall to the wayside as it stepped down in an official ceremony on Saturday.” (02/07/26)
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-presidential-council-steps-down-us-prime-minister-ab6bc808fc31833038638a76a667d7ed
-----
4) Palestine: Hamas leader rejects disarmament while Israeli occupation of Gaza continues
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Hamas’s political leader abroad, Khaled Meshaal, has rejected calls to disarm Palestinian factions in Gaza, arguing that stripping weapons from an occupied people would turn them into ‘an easy victim to be eliminated.’ … In the second phase of a US-mediated ‘ceasefire’ deal between Israel and Hamas, agreed in October last year, Washington says it will tackle the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. But Israel continues to carry out near-daily deadly attacks across Gaza in violation of the ‘ceasefire’ and has so far refused to withdraw from the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ in eastern Gaza, an informal boundary separating more than half of the territory that remains under Israeli military control from the rest of the Strip.” (02/08/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/8/hamas-leader-rejects-disarmament-while-israeli-occupation-of-gaza-continues
-----
5) “Only Trump can stop the war”: Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for acceleration of peace talks
Source: Reuters
“Kyiv’s foreign minister has said the Ukrainian and Russian leaders need to meet in person to hash out the hardest remaining issues in peace talks, and that only U.S. President Donald Trump has the power to bring about an agreement. Ukraine wants to accelerate the efforts to end the four-year-old war and capitalise on momentum in the U.S.-brokered talks before other factors come into play, such as campaigning for the U.S. Congressional mid-term elections in November, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in an interview. ‘Only Trump can stop the war,’ Sybiha told Reuters in his office in Kyiv, close to the Dnipro river. From a 20-point peace plan that has formed the basis of recent trilateral negotiations, only ‘a few’ items remain outstanding, Sybiha said.” (02/08/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-urges-acceleration-peace-talks-says-only-trump-can-broker-deal-2026-02-08/
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6) CA: Progressive candidate launches last-minute challenge to Karen Bass for LA mayor
Source: The Hill
“Progressive Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman (D) on Saturday made a last-minute bid to challenge Mayor Karen Bass (D) in the June primary election. Raman made the announcement hours before the 12 p.m. filing deadline for candidates be on the ballot. She praised Bass in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, calling the mayor ‘an icon’ but said the city needs someone who will tackle its problems. … Raman was the first of three candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America to win seats on the city council, followed by Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez. Raman defeated former City Councilmember David Ryu in 2020 and was reelected in 2024.” (02/07/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5728127-nithya-raman-challenges-mayor-bass/
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7) Border Patrol gang member’s texts after he shot a Chicago woman five times will be released, judge rules
Source: NBC News
“The text messages a Border Patrol agent sent to colleagues and family members after he repeatedly shot a Chicago woman in October can be released to the public, a federal judge ruled Friday. In messages previously made public, the agent bragged about his marksmanship. U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis stated in court that the text messages provide insight into the agent’s and the Department of Homeland Security’s credibility, as well as into how DHS leadership perceived the shooting. The agent, Charles Exum, shot Marimar Martinez five times on Oct. 4, after she allegedly rammed her car into agents’ vehicles. Martinez denies ramming them and said agents were the aggressors. Exum did not have his body camera turned on during the incident. In one text message previously released, he bragged about his shooting skills, writing: ‘I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.'” (02/07/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/border-patrol-marimar-martinez-shooting-chicago-text-message-release-rcna257765
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8) MI: State’s Supreme Court blocks legal challenges tied to one-judge “grand juries”
Source: Detroit News
“In a case with a potentially far-reaching impact, the Michigan Supreme Court has closed the door on a wave of post-conviction challenges tied to the state’s use of judges as one-person grand juries. In the unanimous opinion issued Feb. 4 and written by Justice Elizabeth Welch, the court said that its 2022 decision restricting the use of one-man grand juries, which curtailed prosecutions in the Flint Water Crisis, does not apply retroactively to cases that are already final. The court held that defendants convicted years ago cannot rely on its earlier ruling in People v. Peeler to reopen their cases simply because they were charged through a one-person grand jury rather than given a preliminary examination. The case before the court involved Todd Douglas Robinson, who was convicted in 2013 of first-degree premeditated murder and felony-firearm in what was allegedly a drug deal gone bad.” (02/07/26)
https://archive.is/sI7XY
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9) Italy: Police arrest protesters after clash in Olympic host city Milan
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Six people have been arrested after police clashed with protesters in Milan, one of the hosts of the Winter Olympic Games, during the first day of the competition. Thousands took to the streets of the city in northern Italy on Saturday to protest against a range of issues including the cost of living. Some released fireworks and threw stones at police, who responded with water cannon. It comes after the government tightened protest laws in the wake of a demonstration last weekend in Turin that left more than 100 officers injured, according to government figures. Meanwhile, officials are investigating suspected sabotage on northern Italy’s railway network on Saturday.” 902/08/26)
https://archive.is/pXhja
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10) WaPo publisher Will Lewis abruptly resigns amid criticism of staff cuts
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Will Lewis, the Murdoch media veteran who took over as publisher and chief executive of the Washington Post in early 2024, announced abruptly on Saturday evening that he is leaving the company. His departure comes just three days after the Post laid off nearly one-third of its entire staff, citing the need to cut costs and reposition the money-losing publication. Lewis, who did not appear on the all-staff meeting during which the cuts were announced, has faced criticism for his absence and leadership. … [Jeff] Bezos, who has owned the Post since 2013, and who has received heavy criticism in recent days for his stewardship of the publication, released a statement touting the Post and its new leadership team – without addressing Lewis’s tenure overseeing the company.” (02/07/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/washington-post-will-lewis-resigns
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11) Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Ransom demand for Savannah Guthrie’s mom is reportedly $6 million
Source: Fox News
“A local TV station reports that the potential kidnappers of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of ‘Today’ host Savannah Guthrie, sent in a ransom note with a threatening demand for millions for dollars in exchange for the 84-year-old’s safe return. KGUN 9 in Tucson reported that it received a note that demanded $6 million before 5 p.m. local time Monday and threatened Nancy Guthrie’s life if the family does not meet the deadline. The station previously reported that it and other media outlets had each received a ransom note demanding several million dollars in Bitcoin. The report comes as Savannah Guthrie posted a new video to Instagram on Saturday, saying her family had received a message and was pleading for the return of their missing mother. The family did not detail what this message said.” (02/08/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/nancy-guthrie-disappearance-arizona-feb-8-live-updates
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12) Appeals court back’s Trump’s unconstitutional mass detention policy
Source: Politico
“A federal appeals court Friday night backed the Trump administration’s policy to lock up the vast majority of people it is seeking to deport without offering a chance for bond, even if they have no criminal records and have resided in the country for decades. A divided three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the administration’s view — a reversal of every administration’s position for the last 30 years — is the correct interpretation of the federal government’s power to detain people targeted for deportation.” [editor’s note: The Constitution forbids excessive bail — no opportunity for bail at all is by definition excessive – TLK] (02/06//26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/06/trump-mass-detention-5th-circuit-00770361
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13) France: Former culture minister resigns over Epstein-linked tax fraud probe
Source: SFGate
“France’s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation. He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President François Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s. Lang, 86, was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his resignation.” (02/08/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/france-s-former-culture-minister-resigns-over-21341082.php
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14) Flesh-eating parasite sparks disaster declaration in Texas
Source: New York Post
“Texas will not get screwed by the flesh-eating parasite known as the screwworm — with Gov. Greg Abbott declaring a preemptive disaster declaration before the devastating organism even gets to the Lone Star State. The New World Screwworm, a fly which can burrow into and feed on living tissue, has been steadily making its way north from Central and Southern America, officials said. … Abbott is also ordering state agencies to gear up before the parasite arrives, directing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission to form a joint New World Screwworm Response Team.” (02/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/07/us-news/flesh-eating-parasite-sparks-disaster-declaration-in-texas/
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15) Three suspects in Russian general’s shooting named, including alleged gunman
Source: BBC News [Uk state media]
“Russia says it has identified three suspects involved in the shooting of high-profile military general Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev. They include the man said to have carried out the attack, who has been named as Ukrainian-born Russian citizen Lyubomir Korba. Russia’s Investigations Committee (SK) said Korba arrived in the capital, Moscow, in late December ‘on assignment from Ukrainian intelligence services to commit a terrorist attack.’ Kyiv has reportedly denied involvement. … Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said on Sunday that his attacker had fired three shots before fleeing and that Korba travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hours after the shooting. He has since been arrested and extradited.” (02/08/26)
https://archive.is/gonQu
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16) Sudan: RSF drone attack kills at least 24, doctors’ group says
Source: ABC News
“A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said. The attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war. The vehicle transported displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area of North Kordofan, the doctors’ group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants, the group said.” (02/07/28)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/drone-attack-paramilitary-group-sudan-kills-24-including-129943866
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17) Flying car now for sale for $190,000
Source: Fox News
“A future with flying cars no longer lives just in concept videos. It now lives in Palo Alto, and if you have about $200,000 plus patience, you can reserve one today. The company behind that future vehicle is Pivotal, a California company that has quietly spent more than a decade turning a radical idea into a real aircraft. Its latest creation, called Helix, is now open for reservations, and delivery could be less than a year away. Yes, this is an actual flying car you can buy.” (02/08/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/flying-car-now-sale-190000
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18) Grand jury indicts actor Tim Busfield on child sex abuse charges
Source: United Press International
“A New Mexico grand jury on Friday indicted actor Timothy Busfield on four counts that accuse him of criminal sexual contact of a child. Each charge carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison if Busfield, 68, is found guilty, according to New Mexico law. … He has pleaded not guilty to all charges filed against him after allegations by two boys who had been cast members of the Fox television series The Cleaning Lady, in which Busfield acted and directed from 2022 to 2024. Busfield accused the mother of the two boys of falsely accusing him because he did not cast the two boys in the series’ final season.” (02/06/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/02/06/tim-busfield-indicted/7991770417437/
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19) Apps to boycott US goods gained traction in crisis over Greenland
Source: SFGate
“The makers of mobile apps designed to help shoppers identify and boycott American goods say they saw a surge of interest in Denmark and beyond after the recent flare-up in tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland. The creator of the ‘Made O’Meter’ app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis in late January out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March. Rosenfeldt, who lives in Copenhagen and works in digital marketing, decided to create the app a year ago after joining a Facebook group of like-minded Danes hoping to boycott U.S. goods.” (02/08/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/greenland-crisis-boosted-danish-apps-designed-to-21341015.php
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20) Pakistan: Four arrested for “facilitating” Islamabad bombing as victims laid to rest
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Pakistan’s military says it has arrested four ‘facilitators’ who helped the attacker in Friday’s deadly Islamabad mosque bombing as authorities intensify a security crackdown amid rising concerns over cross-border attacks. Thousands of mourners gathered in the capital on Saturday to bury the victims of the attack, which killed at least 32 worshippers and injured 170 others, officials said. … The military alleged that the ‘planning, training, and indoctrination for the attack took place in Afghanistan,’ adding that under ‘Afghan Taliban patronage, extremist groups continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global peace.'” (02/07/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/7/thousands-mourn-32-victims-of-islamabad-shia-mosque-bombing-in-pakistan
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) For a Better America, Reject Pretty Please Puritanism
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Moral panic — defined on Wikipedia as ‘a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society’ — has become our chief political currency. It’s in the driver’s seat. It has the wheel. And it manifests as a form of puritanism, also conveniently defined by Mencken: ‘The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.’ We can’t have that! Something must be done! There oughtta be a law! And the laws always come down less to prohibition than to permission.” (02/08/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20364
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22) Speech That Plays It Safe Does Not Remain Free for Long
Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia
“Whether one thinks protesting in the streets of Minneapolis is a wise action or not, it remains the case that Americans have a right to vigorously protest the actions of the state, and not fear being killed for it. In fact, it was Justice Douglas’s opinion that ‘the right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs,’ is ‘one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes.’ To believe, whether implicitly or explicitly, that public protests are only justified when complainants protest quietly, or when the government deems the protests appropriate, or when the victims are lionized by the administration and its backers, is to give far too much credit to the state.” (02/07/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/s/
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23) MAGA’s Second Amendment double standard
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“For my entire adult life, I’ve listened to self-described ‘constitutional’ conservatives strut around like God’s gift to the nation’s conscience, as they lecture everyone on the importance of upholding the original intent of America’s founding document. They’ve been oddly silent as Donald Trump’s administration directly assaults the Constitution. He’s not the first one to do it, but he is doing so more brazenly than others. Even if some ‘whataboutism’ is appropriate, wouldn’t it be more consistent for conservatives to criticize these assaults just as they criticized previous assaults under Joe Biden and Barack Obama? Cheering — or remaining silent — as ICE agents arrest those who photograph them (First Amendment), carry out warrantless searches (Fourth Amendment), and ignore the directives of governors (10th Amendment) is the definition of hypocrisy.” (02/06/26)
https://archive.is/jE96n
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24) Under Trump, the “War on Drugs” is a Military Campaign — and It Still Doesn’t Make Sense
Source: Cato Institute
by Peter Goettler
“The recent expansion of the drug war into military action underscores a deeper problem: a longstanding policy with costs that are concrete, immense and well documented, while its benefits remain vague and modest.” (02/06/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/under-trump-war-drugs-military-campaign-it-still-doesnt-make-sense
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25) Does the US Still Have a Constitution?
Source: Judging Freedom
by Andrew P Napolitano
“Formally, the United States still has a Constitution. We still have the three branches of government. Congress still has the House of Representatives and the Senate. The president is still elected by the Electoral College. The courts still function to resolve disputes and to define what the laws mean and what the Constitution means. Yet, thanks in large measure to the public fear and mania in the war on drugs in the 1980s and 1990s, the war on terror in the 2000s and 2010s, and now the war on immigrants, functionally, Congress found it easy to cut constitutional corners and to look the other way as one crisis after another has led to the expansion of executive powers and the erosion of personal freedoms.” (02/06/26)
https://archive.is/YtOCJ
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26) How Long Can America Go on Like This?
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“There is an unbridgeable gap in the United States right now between two people with polar opposite views of the world, its purpose, man’s place in it, and what the country should be in the future. And nobody can sit on the fence; you are on one side or another. ‘You are either for me or against me,’ Jesus said, and that is the situation every American faces right now, regarding the future and destiny of the nation. The Left isn’t going to change, folks. They are, for the foreseeable and indefinite future, rooted in their beliefs and ideology, and they aren’t going to be converted.” [editor’s note: Nor, I suspect, will Mark Lewis turn his life around, start rejecting the glamour of evil, and refuse to be further mastered by sin – TLK] (02/07/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/02/07/how-long-can-america-go-on-like-this-n2670824
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27) The Stakes Are Too High To Be This Cringe
Source: Persuasion
by Leonora Barclay
“Are you sitting down? There’s big news from the Democratic Party. No, they haven’t developed a coherent plan to address ICE shooting civilians on American streets. Nor have they much to say about Trump’s foreign policy, which is so disruptive that it forced European nations to remember they have armies and deploy troops to Greenland. No, this is much more important for the country. Kamala Harris has released a video. … Harris is right that Democrats have struggled to keep momentum going after 2024. But the solution isn’t to pretend that a glossy website counts as a genuine gameplan. As the Democrats’ cringey YouTube channel showed us, the issue isn’t a lack of content. It’s a lack of substance.” (02/07/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-democrats-are-still-lost
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28) Political impacts on migration and population shifts within the States
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Yes, the Big Three Woke States (California, New York, and Illinois) all lost population. Note this is despite the influx of border jumpers into those States during Uncle Joe’s reign. But at the most causal observation, it is clear that many other Woke ‘Democratic Party stronghold’ States did have population growth. Particularly note Delaware, with 7.1% but even the Great Lake States (MN, WI, and MI), Washington State, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona had increases. Which apparently are mostly additions to their big urban areas. Their rural and frontier areas show little growth.” (02/07/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/02/07/political-impacts-on-migration-and-population-shifts-within-the-states/
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29) The Plutocrats Who Rule Our World Aren’t Even Enjoying Themselves
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I saw a tweet by Elon Musk the other day: ‘Whoever said ‘money can’t buy happiness’ really knew what they were talking about.’ He put a sadface emoji at the end. I personally do not feel the slightest bit sorry for Elon Musk and his feelings. But the fact that these billionaires aren’t even enjoying themselves as they poison our planet and rob us all says so much about the madness of the civilization we are living in. I mean, think about it. It’s not even making them happy. … It would be terrible if these obscenely wealthy oligarchs were robbing everyone else of happiness in order to make themselves exponentially happier than all of us. But they’re not even making themselves happy. They’re fucking miserable. Everyone involved in this abusive dynamic is suffering from it — even the abusers.” (02/07/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/07/the-plutocrats-who-rule-our-world-arent-even-enjoying-themselves/
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30) Self-Defeating “Sustainability”
Source: Quillette
by Henry I Miller
“The sustainable agriculture movement’s ideological opposition to biotechnology undermines genuine environmental progress and food security.” (02/08/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/02/08/self-defeating-sustainability-agriculture-environment/
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31) Let the morally and financially bankrupt UN perish
Source: New York Post
by Paul du Quenoy
“‘Imminent financial collapse,’ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres hysterically predicted in a Jan. 29 letter to all UN member states, saying his reputationally challenged organization is so cash-strapped that it will run out of money by July, close its iconic Manhattan headquarters in August and cancel its annual General Assembly meeting in September. Most UN functions, including its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which claims to coordinate responses to global emergencies, may also sunset in the coming months due to lack of funds. This gushing cavalcade of good news sounds more like a promise than a warning.” (02/07/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/07/opinion/let-the-morally-and-financially-bankrupt-united-nations-perish/
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32) Minneapolis Demonstrates How to Resist Brutality Without Losing Your Soul
Source: The UnPopulist
by Emily Chamlee-Wright & Jason S Canon
“‘These are the times that try men’s souls.’ That’s how Thomas Paine opened The American Crisis in 1776. The Declaration of Independence narrates the origins of that crisis: a tyrant choosing private gain over public good, usurping legislative authority, stifling immigration, cutting off trade, bending the judiciary, and sending ‘hither swarms of Officers to harass our people.’ 250 years later, surveying the aftermath of the ICE surge in Minneapolis, we know what Paine meant. … we’d like to follow Paine in turning soulward. How do we bear witness and resist without letting our shock and outrage corrupt who we are? We’re not here to tell anyone what or how to feel. Rather, we want to explore two traditions of directing our feelings toward inner and outer peace.” (02/06/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/minneapolis-demonstrates-how-to-resist
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33) The Military’s AI Strategy Threatens Everything We Love
Source: Common Dreams
by Chris Jeske
“As did many fellow Americans, I chuckled when President Trump announced the creation of the US Space Force on December 20, 2019. I even remember laughing heartily while taking in the late-night circuit’s many Star Trek jokes that day. Yet, I had mostly forgotten that the Space Force still exists until last week when Secretary of War Pete Hegseth started a policy speech alongside Elon Musk at SpaceX’s headquarters by flashing the Vulcan salute and affirming Musk’s desire to ‘make Star Trek real.’ The absurdity of Musk’s introduction (in which he spoke of ‘going beyond our star system to other star systems, where we may meet aliens or discover long dead alien civilizations’ as if this could happen in any of our lifetimes) belied the seriousness of the new U.S. Military Artificial Intelligence strategy that Secretary Hegseth proceeded to announce.” (02/07/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/threats-of-ai-use-by-military
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34) Ronald Coase, Abba Lerner, and the Calculation Controversy
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“The Calculation Controversy was an extended debate between a group of free market economists, including Ludwig von Mises and Friederich Hayek, and a group of socialist economists including Abba Lerner and Oskar Lange. It was set off by Mises’ article Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth, which argued that without markets and trade, rational economic calculation was impossible. The most interesting response from the socialist side was the Lerner and Lange’s model of socialism with markets.” (02/06/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ronald-coase-abba-lerner-and-the
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35) A Rothbardian Perspective on ICE Agents in Minnesota
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Conor Sanderson
“In today’s divided political landscape, opinions on the actions of ICE agents in Minnesota are sharply split. However, turning to the insights of Murray Rothbard offers a thoughtful and critical perspective. Although Rothbard never encountered ICE agents during his lifetime, his writings suggest he would likely criticize the violent actions of these agents in Minnesota. Rothbard would probably see them as symbols of state aggression and institutionalized coercion.” (02/06/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/rothbardian-perspective-ice-agents-minnesota
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36) Louisville Is Making It Easier To Smoke Cigars Indoors
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Jacob Grier
“Bourbon and tobacco are two products practically synonymous with Kentucky. Pairing them indoors within the state’s borders, however, is surprisingly difficult. Forty-four cities and counties throughout the state have implemented comprehensive indoor smoking bans. But a whiff of change is in the air: Last year, Louisville passed an exemption for cigar bars, and a new bill in the legislature could legalize them statewide.” (02/06/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/grier-louisville-cigars/
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37) Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In the dystopian novel ‘1984’, George Orwell wrote, ‘The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’ The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the greatest boondoggle in history: his high-speed train to nowhere. Without laying a single yard of track after burning $12 billion, Newsom showed a diesel freight train on a conventional track to create the appearance of a working railroad. I have been writing about this boondoggle for years. Newsom promised years ago that the project would be transformative. It was, but not as he promised.” (02/07/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-grandstanding-newsom-stop-nothing-ride-rails-glory-2028
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38) The Middle Finger Majority
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“Republicans keep making excuses. The Texas State Senate special election was about local issues, a bad candidate, and infighting. The Georgia State House special election was about local issues, a bad candidate, infighting, and state party incompetence. That is eight state legislative elections the GOP lost in Republican seats. Republicans have lost Republican seats in Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, and other reliably Republican states. To tell Republicans this is to be an apostate. They simply do not want to hear it. Like the Democrats before them, Republican dreams of a majority are built now on lies they tell themselves.” (02/06/26)
https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/the-middle-finger-majority
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39) Is Christian nationalism on the march?
Source: spiked
by Georgina Mumford
“From the hectoring TradCaths to Tommy Robinson’s carol services, mixing faith and politics damages both.” (02/07/26)
https://archive.is/ZTojS
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40) Prediction Markets and The Ethics of Betting on Bad News
Source: The Daily Economy
by Christopher Freiman
“The main moral objection to prediction markets seems to be that it’s wrong to profit from someone’s misfortune. And intuitively there does seem to be something immoral about raking in thousands of dollars because you correctly predicted that a hurricane would hit a particular city or a particular war would break out, resulting in tremendous amounts of suffering. As Moscrop puts it, ‘Bettors will hold financial stakes in particular outcomes, including some of the most heinous events imaginable. It’s a fundamentally cynical and dehumanizing turn.’ But as natural as the gut-level unease with prediction markets is, we shouldn’t trust it. Prediction markets are both useful and morally benign. Prediction markets are useful precisely because they incentivize accurate forecasting.” (02/06/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-ethics-of-betting-on-future-bad-news/
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41) AIPAC Coordinates Donors in Illinois House Primaries
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen & Ryan Grim
“With Israel’s reputation reaching record lows among Democrats, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is resorting to ever more sophisticated methods to support its preferred candidates while cloaking its own involvement. The amount of money that the premier pro-Israel organization is able to spend in elections is extraordinarily valuable to candidates who would otherwise have little chance of winning. But it now comes with a catch: If voters know the money comes from an organization advocating on behalf of Israel, it can do more harm than good. AIPAC road-tested its stealth approach in a 2024 House primary in Oregon that pitted Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), against physician Maxine Dexter. Dexter raised relatively little money throughout much of her campaign, then saw a last-minute deluge organized by AIPAC coupled with outside spending through super PACs, which themselves turned out to be funded by AIPAC.” (02/06/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/06/aipac-coordinates-donors-in-illinois-house-primaries/
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42) The Dangers of a Little Learning
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia
“In the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the genetically engineered superhuman, Khan Noonien Singh, is discovered in his exile on Ceti Alpha V with a bookshelf populated by the Bible, Dante’s Inferno, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Melville’s Moby Dick. His last words in the film are taken straight out of the latter, as the revenge-obsessed Khan murmurs to his nemesis, Captain James T. Kirk: ‘From hell’s heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.’ In the film Die Hard, the ruthless East German terrorist, Hans Gruber, also proclaims himself to be well read: ‘And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer,’ Gruber says, with the aside: ‘Benefits of a classical education.’ Reading great books does not necessarily make you a good person.” (02/06/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-dangers-of-a-little-learning/
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43) The Trump Administration Has a Conflicted Relationship with the Second Amendment
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“The Trump administration has a problem when it comes to the Second Amendment. A large part of its base consists of people who firmly believe in the right to keep and bear arms. But that right, as protected by the Second Amendment, empowers the individual and stands as a challenge to the authority of the state. This creates an awkward situation for a president and his coterie who don’t like being challenged or even criticized. That’s why we see administration officials arguing in favor of self-defense rights one moment while challenging the right to keep and bear arms at another.” (02/06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/06/the-trump-administration-has-a-conflicted-relationship-with-the-second-amendment/
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44) Damn Those Innovators!
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Our lives are improved in all sorts of ways by courageous, risk-bearing entrepreneurs, who seek to change the world at a profit. For that reason alone, we should jealously safeguard an environment friendly to entrepreneurship. As the economic historian Deirdre McCloskey has shown through indefatigable research, when society is marred by envy of the richer and highly successful, we all suffer. Widespread prosperity soars, McCloskey demonstrates, when a culture in effect erects huge neon signs brightly flashing the message, ‘You think you have a great idea? Well, give it a go!’ That is not how people have felt through most of history. Envy that bred a fear of pioneers smothered innovation.” (02/06/26)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/tgif-damn-those-innovators.html
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45) The Merit of “Melania”
Source: The Pamphleteer
by Jerod Hollyfield
“The opening chords of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ wash over a drone shot of Mar-a-Lago. As the camera shifts to a set of black high heels and then tilts up to the once-and-future First Lady, Mick Jagger screams ‘War, children, It’s just a shot away. It’s just a shot away.’ This is not a typical moment in what’s come to pass for a documentary in 2025: an endless stream of brooding explanations of lefty issues or recreations of murders rubber stamped for Netflix with overwrought scores. … But it’s this naked, smug lefty do-gooderism that has eroded the documentary form for the last two decades …” (02/06/25)
https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/the-merit-of-melania/
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46) The death of “America First”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“The Trump phenomenon was supposed to be a changing of the old Republican guard, however imperfectly, for a new foreign policy ethos that was closer to Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul than Bill Kristol and David Frum. That’s exactly why so many neoconservatives and War Party Republicans got behind the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. So seven years ago, when Bolton tried to redefine Donald Trump’s America First brand as a continuation of McCain-Bush interventionism, I laughed. Did Bolton really think the conservative base was this gullible? I’m not laughing anymore. Hawks, including old neoconservatives, now present pro-war interventionism as America First all the time.” (02/06/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/america-first-trump/
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47) GOP’s Solution to Corruption: Just Legalize It!
Source: CounterPunch
by Jim Hightower
“If you’re ever asked to define the word oxymoron, just say ‘Congressional ethics.’ People instinctively burst out guffawing at the absurdity of linking Congress to upright behavior. But surprisingly, Republican congressional leaders say they’re now taking a bold stand for a little less corruption among their own members, targeting lawmakers who’ve been secretly enriching themselves through ‘insider stock trading.’ … recently, the party’s designated ethics watchdog, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), rose on his hind legs to introduce the Stop Insider Trading Act. ‘If you want to trade stocks,’ Steil howled in operatic outrage, ‘go to Wall Street.’ Bravissimo! Except it was a fraud. Far from stopping the self-enriching stock scams of lawmakers like Bresnahan, Steil’s bill basically legalizes their corrupt transactions.” (02/06/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/06/gops-solution-to-corruption-just-legalize-it/
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48) Track Record
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Spain receives much well-deserved praise for its rail network, the second-largest in the world after China’s, with around 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of high-speed track. Rail travel in the Iberian country now accounts for 56% of all travel, more than road and air combined, with high-speed services connecting over fifty Spanish cities. In 2009, then-US President Barack Obama credited the 470-kilometer (292-mile) line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville — the country’s first high-speed service, opened in 1992 — as one of the inspirations for creating a network of comparable efficiency across America. But after four incidents in less than a week, public trust in Spain’s world-class network has been shaken.” (02/06/26)
https://fee.org/articles/track-record/
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49) Worker Organizer Abducted By Federal Agents in Minnesota
Source: In These Times
by Sarah Lazare
“Federal immigration agents have abducted Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, a workers’ rights organizer well known in Minnesota for fighting wage theft and labor trafficking. His attorney and son say he is currently held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, run by CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States. For the first time, his family is going to the press as community support for his release is swelling. All we care about is having him back with us, at home in Minnesota,’ his son, Gerardo Orozco Guzman, told me. ’That’s all we want.’ Our interview followed a judge’s ruling in the District Court of Minnesota on Wednesday that denied and dismissed Orozco Verdusco’s habeas corpus petition challenging his unlawful detention.” (02/06/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/worker-organizer-abducted-immigration-minneapolis
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50) Trump Didn’t Destroy the “Rules-Based International Order”
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Accusations have burgeoned that President Donald Trump is determined to destroy the ‘rules-based international order’ established after World War II. Some of his actions certainly resemble old-style, 19th century imperialism. His initial demand that Denmark sell Greenland to the United States fits that description. One could readily envision previous presidents such as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, or William McKinley making a similar move for U.S. territorial aggrandizement. Trump is a rather unashamed imperialist, willing to use threats or even military force to bully other nations. However, despite the recent surge in warnings around the world (especially in Europe) that his actions are wrecking an effective, rules-based international system, that allegation is unfounded. The so-called rules-based system that the United States and its Western allies established has always been fraudulent and self-serving.” (02/06/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-didnt-destroy-the-rules-based-international-order/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 02/07/6
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Discussion on Christian fascist puff piece ‘What is Christian Nationalism?'” (02/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7ZhhsH1qE
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52) Free Talk Live, 02/07/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Trump posted a racist video of the Obamas :: Steph Curry an Israeli intelligence agent? :: Update on OpenAI sending subpoenas to people who talked to their employees :: Suing someone just to waste their time and money :: AI likely headed toward financial bubble :: Bonnie found Epstein email of JE making fun of Ross Ulbricht after arrest :: Tech companies to replace banks as secretive rulers of the world :: Zionism 2.0 :: Venezuela’s prison for torture revealed after Maduro arrest :: Speeding cameras of different sorts :: WhistlinDiesel arrested in TN for Montana plates :: 2026-02-07 Hosts: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (02/07/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-02-07
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53) Unattended Baggage, episode 328
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Monkeys & Russians & Pedos, oh my!” (02/07/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-328-monkeys-and-russians
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54) Serious Trouble, 02/07/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Court Therapy.” (02/07/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/court-therapy
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55) The Brian Nichols Show, 02/06/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Dr. Mike IGNORES Science? The Vaccine Debate He WON’T Have.” (02/06/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-dr-mike-ignores-science-the-vaccine-debate-he-wont-have
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56) Stop Buying Stadiums for Billionaires!
Source: Reason
“If sports is a trillion dollar industry, with billionaire team owners and millionaire players, and hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic fans, and weird pervert mascot creatures, why is the government giving them your money?” (02/06/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/02/06/stop-buying-stadiums-for-billionaires/
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57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 371
Source: Free the People
“DOJ’s Epstein Files Release Reveals Deep Corruption | Guest: Rep. Thomas Massie.” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRaE58LPd3w
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58) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2733
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Selections from my Right-Wing Library.” (02/06/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2733-selections-from-my-right-wing-library/
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59) Rising, 02/06/26
Source: The Hill
“President Trump appeared to suggest that immigration agents could have used a ‘softer touch’ in their operation in Minnesota, sparking concern from some Republican lawmakers like Rep. Byron Donalds.” (02/06/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5720515-rising-february-6-2026/
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60) The Evil Within, Part 1: Introduction
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“In this introductory segment of Jacob’s new 10-part series ‘The Evil Within,’ Jacob explains that he will explore the concept of evil that has come to pervade nine important systems within the federal government. He shows why it is necessary to excise these evil systems from the federal government in order to get America back on the right track — toward freedom, peace, prosperity, morality, and harmony.” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqXbJKt9BsY
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61) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/06/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Voluntary Multipolar Globalization vs. Tyrannical Unipolar Globalization.” (02/06/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1zqKVdYBOedJB
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62) Reason Roundtable, 02/06/26
Source: Reason
“Do Republicans Want To Control Elections?” (02/06/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/02/06/do-republicans-want-to-control-elections/
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63) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 02/06/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Brian Rankin, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Time to Kill the Equal Time Rule.'” (02/06/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-02-07_zfw002062026.mp3
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64) The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 02/06/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump Is Treating Elections Like Crimes (w/ Elliot Williams).” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wty0rJ5yTAQ
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65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/06/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Netanyahu: ‘Conditions’ in Place for Iran Regime Change, Trump Says No New START Extension, and More.” (02/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPs0p30Kxtg
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