11/22 -- Steve Kubby, 1946-2022; Free Speech, Social Media, and Intellectual Silos
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Thomas L. Knapp
Nov 22, 2022, 6:52:12 AM11/22/22
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 11/22/22
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Year-End Fundraiser Update: THANKFUL
1) Steve Kubby, 1946-2022
2) Qatar: Iranian soccer team refuses to sing national anthem ahead of World Cup match
3) Jury to begin deliberating in "Oath Keepers'" seditious conspiracy trial
4) AP Fires Reporter Behind Retracted "Russian Missiles" Story
5) Judge rules Psaki must be deposed in lawsuit over alleged "collusion" with Big Tech
6) NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit
7) German regime offers Polish regime Patriot missiles to defend airspace
8) Oil prices hit 10-month low on OPEC+ production boost report
9) Palestine: Israeli occupation troops murder student "on his way to school"
10) Colombia: Government, guerrilla group resume peace talks
11) US Senate Judiciary panel to review 2014 SCOTUS leak claim
12) Indonesia: More than 150 dead in Java earthquake
13) New Zealand: Court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory
14) NY: Gang members mistakenly shoot member of mutually affiliated gang
15) UK: T. rex auction cancelled after skeleton doubts raised
16) Sunak: UK regime won't align with EU regime's laws in post Brexit relationship
17) Palestine: Israeli woman attacked by Secret Service agent ahead of Biden visit sues
18) Large rail union SMART-TD votes to reject labor deal as national strike moves closer
19) KY: Louisville police chief to resign at end of year
20) Syria: Kurdish militants fire at Turkish border town, killing three
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Free Speech, Social Media, and Intellectual Silos
22) Why Sam Bankman-Fried Sounded so Much Like a Rand Villain
23) War in the Ukraine is Not a Fight Between Good and Evil; Just Bad vs. Bad
24) The Age of Stasis
25) One Way or Another or Another
26) Republicans can't miss the moment to hold COVID regimes accountable
27) America's Soviet Election System
28) America's Bitter Divisions Continue: The Impact of the 2022 Midterm Elections
29) What bubbles below the Gulf's oil giants
30) FDR's Gold Nationalization Set the Stage for Today's Inflation
31) From Covid to CBDC: The Path to Full Control
32) FBI Director Christopher Wray grilled on using bureau jet for vacation
33) Donald Trump and the blue-tick pricks
34) Musk's Free Speech Moves On Twitter So Far Unimpressive
35) The Cuba Embargo: Isolating America
36) See the Surveillance State at Work in Your Own Community
37) The Promise of Habit-Based Learning
38) Media still trying to trick Americans about Hunter Biden
39) Quantum Vibe, 11/21/22
40) Trump in Exile: A Tale of Two Men
41) SCOTUS turns away Virginia school's appeal of sex assault case
42) Is FIFA World Cup Controversy Just One More Distraction?
43) Constructing an Unfixed Freedom
44) Perfect Failure in Pursuit of Perfect Competition
45) Bitcoin Is Far More Than An Investment
46) Analyzing the Strange Coincidences in Maricopa County
47) Natural Gas and American Left-Populism
48) Turkey Is Starving the Rojava Revolution
49) Make Anarchism Great Again: A Call for a Stateless Form of Populism
50) The Worst-Case Scenarios of the Republican House
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/21/22
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 352
53) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 11/21/22
54) Rising, 11/21/22
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 11/21/22
56) EconTalk, 11/21/22
57) Finding Freedom, episode 360
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/21/22
59) Free Talk Live, 11/20/22
60) Daniel McAdams on The Scott Horton Show
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0) Year-End Fundraiser Update: THANKFUL
We're THANKFUL for supporter TL, whose $15 contribution yesterday brings our year-end fundraiser total (as of 6am US Eastern on Tuesday morning) to $1,946!
We'll be even more THANKFUL if we can wrap the fundraiser up by the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. We're $629 short of our goal -- $2,575, plus the "matching funds" offered by supporter GL, which will bring us to $5,150.
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Have a great day!
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1) Steve Kubby, 1946-2022
Source: KN@PPSTER
"I hear from several sources (including his son, Sky Sierran Kubby, on Facebook) that Steve Kubby has died at the age of 75, 'surrounded by his family.' I've not seen any mainstream news stories, so I'm just passing on the sad news myself. His family and friends have my deepest sympathy for their loss. Steve was a great man, a great libertarian, and a great friend. His work on California"s Proposition 215 counts, in my opinion, as the starting point down the road we've since followed to legal medical and recreational marijuana across much of the US. Marijuana, as he told everyone who would listen, saved his life; his efforts to end the war on it, and his explorations of its medical potential, have since saved thousands of lives, thousands of years people might otherwise have spent in prison or in chronic pain, etc." (11/21/22)
https://knappster.blogspot.com/2022/11/steve-kubby-1946-2022.html
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2) Qatar: Iranian soccer team refuses to sing national anthem ahead of World Cup match
Source: CBS News
"The Iranian soccer team's players chose not to sing their country's national anthem before their opening match against England on Monday at the World Cup in Qatar, in apparent solidarity with protesters back home. As Iran's national anthem played at Khalifa International Stadium, television cameras showed the starting players standing stoically, but not singing. Iran lost the match to England, 6-2. Prior to the game, team captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh said he and his teammates would decide 'collectively' whether they would take a stand during the anthem in support of the anti-government protests. In the team's friendly match against Nicaragua on November 11, most of the players declined to sing the anthem, AFP reported." (11/21/22)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-national-anthem-world-cup-england/
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3) Jury to begin deliberating in "Oath Keepers'" seditious conspiracy trial
Source: NBC News
"For the first time in at least a decade, a jury is set to deliberate federal seditious conspiracy charges, weighing the government's case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers organization who prosecutors say plotted to oppose the peaceful transfer of power by force in the lead-up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is facing trial alongside four other defendants: Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell. ... After hearing from the government last week and from the defendants' attorneys on Friday and Monday, federal prosecutors got the last word during rebuttal before the case went to the jury late Monday. ... U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta told jurors they would begin deliberations at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday and resume deliberations on Monday after the Thanksgiving break." (11/21/22)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keepers-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy-trial-jury-begins-deliberating-rcna58070
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4) AP Fires Reporter Behind Retracted "Russian Missiles" Story
Source: The Daily Beast
"The Associated Press scared much of the world last Tuesday when it alerted readers that 'a senior U.S. intelligence official' said 'Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.' That report, which was widely cited across the internet and on cable news, was taken offline the following day and replaced with an editor's note admitting the single source was wrong and that 'subsequent reporting showed that the missiles were Russian-made and most likely fired by Ukraine in defense against a Russian attack.' On Monday, the AP fired James LaPorta, the investigative reporter responsible for that story, Confider has learned. The piece, which was originally co-bylined with John Leicester (who is still working at the AP), attributed the information to a single 'senior U.S. intelligence official,' despite the AP's rule that it 'routinely seeks and requires more than one source when sourcing is anonymous.'" (11/21/22)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ap-fires-reporter-behind-retracted-russian-missiles-story
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5) Judge rules Psaki must be deposed in lawsuit over alleged "collusion" with Big Tech
Source: Fox News
"A federal judge ruled Monday that former White House press secretary Jen Psaki must comply with a subpoena and offer deposition in a lawsuit that claims the Biden administration colluded with Big Tech to censor speech. Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana on Monday rejected a motion by attorneys for Psaki to block a court-ordered deposition, and said there is public interest in 'determining whether First Amendment free speech rights have been suppressed'. Monday's order follows a ruling from U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan Davis, who on Friday transferred the case back to Louisiana after Psaki attempted to fight the deposition in a Virginia court where she lives and would be deposed. Biden's Justice Department supported her effort." (11/21/22)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-rules-jen-psaki-sit-deposition-lawsuit-collusion-big-tech-censor-speech
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6) NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit
Source: Associated Press
"NASA's Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts. It's the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA's Apollo program 50 years ago, and represents a huge milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday. ... The capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit, before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for Dec. 11." (11/21/22)
https://apnews.com/article/astronomy-space-exploration-science-business-moon-18cfd8a2592a544976f4cf72209ae9e4
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7) German regime offers Polish regime Patriot missiles to defend airspace
Source: Seattle Times
"Germany has offered Eurofighters and Patriot defense systems to Poland to help it defend its airspace, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told German newspapers in comments published Monday. 'We have to position ourselves in the alliance even better in terms of air defense,' and that that goes particularly for Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic countries, she told the Rheinische Post and General-Anzeiger newspapers. ... Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he received Germany's offer of additional Patriot missiles 'with satisfaction' and will have them deployed close to the border with Ukraine." (11/21/22)
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/germany-offers-poland-patriot-missiles-to-defend-airspace/
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8) Oil prices hit 10-month low on OPEC+ production boost report
Source: Reuters
"Oil prices dropped to their lowest since early January on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC oil producers are discussing an output increase. Brent crude futures for January had slipped $4.07, or 4.7%, to $83.55 a barrel by 1518 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were down $4.02, or 5%, at $76.06 ahead of the contract's expiry later on Monday. The more active January contract was down $3.82, or 4.8%, at $76.29. An increase of up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be discussed at the OPEC+ meeting on Dec. 4, The Wall Street Journal reported." (11/21/22)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-dips-near-2-month-lows-supply-concerns-ease-2022-11-21/
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9) Palestine: Israeli occupation troops murder student "on his way to school"
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]
"A Palestinian high-school student has been shot dead while he was reportedly on his way to school, during a raid by Israeli forces on the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin. Relatives confirmed to Al Jazeera that the man killed on Monday was Mahmoud al-Saadi. The Palestinian Ministry of Health told Al Jazeera that he was 18 years old, and said he was shot in the stomach. At least four other Palestinians were wounded after being shot, according to the ministry and local journalists. The Palestinian Ministry of Education mourned al-Saadi in a statement on Monday. It said he was a student at the Farhat Hashad Boys Secondary School in Jenin and and that he had been killed on his way to school. ... The Israeli army said in a statement that they had returned fire during an operation to arrest nine wanted Palestinians." (11/21/22)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/21/israeli-forces-kill-young-palestinian-man-in-occupied-west-bank-2
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10) Colombia: Government, guerrilla group resume peace talks
Source: SFGate
"The Colombian government and the South American country's largest remaining guerrilla group resumed peace talks Monday, breaking a roughly four-year hiatus during which the rebels have expanded the territory where they operate. Neighboring Venezuela, whose government resumed diplomatic relations with Colombia only a few months ago, hosted the representatives of the National Liberation Army and the government of President Gustavo Petro. The discussions in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, came more than a month after the rebels and Petro's government announced the resumption of negotiations. The delegates in a joint declaration stated they had gathered to restart political dialogue 'with full political and ethical will, as demanded by the people of rural and urban territories that suffer from violence and exclusion, and other sectors of society.' They added that they are willing to 'build peace based on a democracy with justice.'" (11/21/22)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Colombian-government-guerrilla-group-resume-17601647.php
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11) US Senate Judiciary panel to review 2014 SCOTUS leak claim
Source: Axios
"Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced his panel is reviewing 'serious allegations' in a New York Times report Saturday that a 2014 Supreme Court ruling was leaked to a former anti-abortion activist weeks in advance. ... Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote majority opinions in both the 2014 Hobby Lobby contraception and religious-liberty case and the leaked draft opinion of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, has said any suggestion that he or his wife disclosed the 2014 ruling early to anyone was 'false.' Former anti-abortion leader Rev. Rob Schenck told the NYT that Gayle Wright, a donor to the evangelical organization he then ran, informed him of the decision. However, Wright 'denied obtaining or passing along any such information,' the NYT reports." (11/21/22)
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/21/senate-judiciary-panel-review-2014-supreme-court-leak-claim
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12) Indonesia: More than 150 dead in Java earthquake
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
"At least 162 people were killed after an earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Java on Monday, with the tremors being felt in the capital Jakarta, the island's governor said. The magnitude 5.6 quake -- according to the US Geological Survey -- struck in the afternoon in the Cianjur region of West Java province, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of the capital. ... The number of dead and injured was still being assessed and authorities said both could rise. Earlier estimates put the number of injured at over 700. Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, said that at least 25 people are believed to be trapped under rubble. Initial counts estimate 2,000 houses were damaged, with 13,000 people taken to evacuation centers." (11/21/22)
https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-over-150-killed-as-earthquake-hits-island-of-java/a-63828694
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13) New Zealand: Court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory
Source: CNN
"New Zealand's highest court ruled on Monday that the country's current voting age of 18 was discriminatory, forcing parliament to discuss whether it should be lowered. The case, which has been going through the courts since 2020, was bought by advocacy group Make It 16, which wants the age lowered to include 16 and 17 year olds. The Supreme Court found that the current voting age of 18 was inconsistent with the country's Bill of Rights, which gives people a right to be free from age discrimination when they have reached 16." (11/21/22)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/21/world/new-zealand-voter-age-18-debate-intl-hnk/index.html
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14) NY: Gang members mistakenly shoot member of mutually affiliated gang
Source: NBC Newes
"An off-duty sheriff's deputy from Vermont was shot multiple times by police in New York after he was involved in a gunfight with another group of people early Sunday morning, police said. Shots were fired around 3 a.m. at the intersection of Broadway and Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, New York, near an area with bars and nightlife, following a scuffle between the deputy and a group of people from the Utica area, police said. The deputy, who was not identified, was 'physically attacked' by at least three people, slammed into the hood of a car and knocked to the ground, Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino said during a news conference Sunday. ... A number of Saratoga Springs officers were on duty around the corner on Caroline Street and heard the confrontation .... three officers discharged their weapons, firing a total of 11 shots, resulting in the deputy falling to the ground." (11/21/22)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-duty-vermont-sheriffs-deputy-shot-multiple-police-gunfight-new-york-rcna58130
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15) UK: T. rex auction cancelled after skeleton doubts raised
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A T. rex skeleton which was expected to fetch up to $25m (£21m) at auction has been withdrawn after doubts were raised over where parts of it had come from. Auction house Christie's confirmed to the BBC that the Tyrannosaurus Rex would not be amongst the lots going under the hammer in Hong Kong on 30 November. It said the seller had decided to loan the skeleton to a museum instead. Christie's did not give a reason why the sale had been withdrawn. The New York Times reports that a US fossil company raised concerns that parts of the skeleton, named Shen, looked like replicas from another T. rex skeleton called Stan. The Black Hills Institute holds the intellectual property rights to Stan, meaning it is allowed to sell replicas, with casts costing $120,000." (11/21/22)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63700297
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16) Sunak: UK regime won't align with EU regime's laws in post Brexit relationship
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
"British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday denied that his government was seeking to row back on the UK's EU withdrawal deal, despite an apparent growing backlash against Brexit. Brexit-supporter Sunak told business leaders that life outside the European Union was 'already delivering enormous benefits and opportunities.' He touted greater curbs on immigration -- a key plank of the Brexit deal -- and closer trade ties with Asia. But he added: 'Let me be unequivocal about this: under my leadership, the United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws.' The UK left the EU in full in January 2021, after years of political wrangling since the divisive referendum n 2016 to split from the bloc." (11/21/22)
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3200458/british-pm-sunak-uk-wont-align-eu-laws-post-brexit-relationship
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17) Palestine: Israeli woman attacked by Secret Service agent ahead of Biden visit sues
Source: New York Post
"The Israeli woman allegedly assaulted in July by an off-duty Secret Service agent -- who was in Jerusalem to prep for President Biden's visit -- filed a civil lawsuit Monday. Tamar Ben Haim brought the case in DC federal court against the unidentified agent over the July 12 attack, which took place in an alleyway while she was walking home around 1 a.m. The 30-year-old graphic designer says the man -- who she saw had a gun -- 'began hitting and slapping me' and she thought 'that these were my last moments on Earth.' The man 'held Tamar tightly, hit her on her chest, repeatedly, slapped her, causing her earring and earphone to fall to the ground," the court papers claim. Ben Haim screamed for help but no one came until a man accompanying her assailant pulled him off her before leaving the scene, the filing claims." (11/21/22)
https://nypost.com/2022/11/21/tamar-ben-haim-sues-over-assault-by-off-duty-secret-service-agent/
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18) Large rail union SMART-TD votes to reject labor deal as national strike moves closer
Source: CNBC
"SMART-TD, one of the largest railroad labor unions, voted down the tentative agreement with rail management, raising the likelihood of a strike in December. The BLET, the other largest union which represents engineers, voted to ratify the labor deal but said it will honor the picket line. ... The BMWED, which represents the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, is scheduled to strike on December 5 with The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS). But BMWED announced it would extend its cooling-off period if one of the larger unions voted not to ratify the tentative labor deal. The BRS has not indicated whether it will extend its deadline for talks." (11/21/22)
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/21/smart-td-votes-down-labor-deal-as-rails-move-closer-to-national-strike.html
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19) KY: Louisville police chief to resign at end of year
Source: SFGate
"Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields will step down in January, less than two years after she took the job amid tensions over the department's handling of Breonna Taylor's fatal shooting by police. Louisville Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg said Monday that he recently spoke to Shields and she offered to submit her resignation, giving Greenberg the opportunity to pick a new chief when his term begins on Jan. 2. Shields took over in January 2021, months after the Taylor shooting and a summer full of street protests that called attention to the shooting and police treatment of protesters. She was the fourth chief to lead the department after Taylor was killed in March 2020. Former Chief Steve Conrad was fired and two interim chiefs served short terms in 2020. Greenberg, a Democrat who won the mayor's race earlier this month, said he would name an interim chief to serve beginning in January while the new chief is selected." (11/21/22)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Louisville-police-chief-to-resign-in-at-end-of-17601839.php
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20) Syria: Kurdish militants fire at Turkish border town, killing three
Source: ABC News
"Suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets across the border into Turkey on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding 10 others, Turkish officials said. The attack followed deadly airstrikes by Turkey on suspected militant targets in Syria and Iraq. The rockets struck a high school and two houses in the town of Karkamis in Gaziantep province, as well as a truck near a Turkish-Syria border gate, Turkey's the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. ... The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces opened fire toward Karkamis from its positions near the Syrian border town of Kobani, according to Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor." (11/21/22)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-kurdish-militants-fire-turkish-border-town-93705349
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Free Speech, Social Media, and Intellectual Silos
Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
"In a recent article for CNN, Kara Alaimo voices some concerns about speech and social media. Though she makes frequent use of the term 'free speech,' what she's really worried about is unmoderated speech -- that is, speech which isn't restrained by the platform hosting the speaker. ... Alaimo is worried that social media platforms like Twitter, Parler, and Truth Social are insufficiently aggressive about moderating what she considers to be "conservative" speech. But in her article she also explains, without realizing it, why attempts to shut down certain viewpoints in these platforms will backfire in ways she would find regrettable. If you take people who hold a certain worldview (conservatism, say) and systematically shut them out of a public forum, those people don't simply disappear. Nor do they lose interest in discussing their ideas. Instead they will simply form a new platform designed for themselves and for like minded people." (11/21/22)
https://www.econlib.org/free-speech-social-media-and-intellectual-silos/
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22) Why Sam Bankman-Fried Sounded so Much Like a Rand Villain
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jon Miltimore
"The financial collapse of the crypto exchange FTX was brutal and swift. Almost overnight, its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried saw his $16 billion fortune wiped out. SBF, as he's popularly known, managed to fool almost the entire world -- though not quite everyone. In hindsight, it's not hard to see the red flags at FTX. There was no board of directors. Bankman-Fried couldn't answer simple questions about his funding. The executive leadership was shady and there was the whole 'cabal of roommates' in the Bahamas. One thing that hasn't gotten enough attention, however, is SBF's philosophy of 'effective altruism,' a social movement that rejects self-interest and instead focuses on 'how to benefit others as much as possible.'" (11/21/22)
https://fee.org/articles/why-sam-bankman-friedman-sounded-so-much-like-a-rand-villain/
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23) War in the Ukraine is Not a Fight Between Good and Evil; Just Bad vs. Bad
Source: CounterPunch
by David van Deusen
"Russia, the larger nation, is acting as the aggressor in the Ukraine. The invasion was motivated by a desire for empire and is imperialist in nature. But all fights are not created equal, fairytales are not all true, and all underdogs are not worthy of armed support. The Ukrainian state, like Russia, is rightwing. But unlike any other country in the world (at least since the fall of Franco's dictatorship in Spain), Ukraine has organized Nazi and fascist groupings overtly incorporated into its Armed Forces. One of these is the Azov Battalion, who have massive (and growing) influence within the Zelenskyy regime. ... These are the facts and they must be looked at with somber senses if we are to make an informed decision as to what is to be done next." (11/21/22)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/11/21/war-in-the-ukraine-is-not-a-fight-between-good-and-evil-just-bad-vs-bad/
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24) The Age of Stasis
Source: Niskanen Center
by Brink Lindsey
"It's my contention that 21st century capitalism is undergoing a triple crisis -- one of inclusion, one of dynamism, and one of politics. As to the first of these, I've already written a couple of essays looking at the socioeconomic and political marginalization of ordinary people since the advent of mass affluence. Now I'll turn to the crisis of dynamism. Piecing together what's happened and why will occupy me for the next few essays. We can conceive of this crisis in both narrower and more sweeping terms. As to the former, the concern is with declining rates of innovation and economic growth and growing barriers to scientific and technological progress. Zooming out and taking a larger view, there is the sense of a deeper, civilizational sclerosis." (11/21/22)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-age-of-stasis/
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25) One Way or Another or Another
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"The courts have not been kind to President Joe Biden's unilateral attempt to erase some $200 billion to $500 billion in student-loan debt. (By 'erase' I mean force all taxpayers to pay debt incurred by the millions of borrowers eligible for the forgiveness program.) ... Except that another student-loan-debt-erasing thing has been going on since early in the pandemic, a pause on debt payments rationalized by the economic hardship imposed by lockdowns. This pause was set to lapse at the end of this year, with payments to resume in January. But according to a White House insider 'familiar with the matter,' the administration has been making 'increasingly firm plans to extend the repayment pause.'" (11/21/22)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2022/11/21/one-way-or-another-or-another/
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26) Republicans can't miss the moment to hold COVID regimes accountable
Source: Fox News Forum
by Karol Markowicz
"Last week, we finally got confirmation that the Republicans have won the House of Representatives. This is good news, especially for those of us who want to see some accountability for the terrible COVID policies of the last few years. It's time for House hearings into the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The argument that Americans want to move on and forget what happened during the pandemic is contradicted by the recent election results. Yes, Republicans were hoping for a giant red wave and what they got was a red ripple. But it's important to note where their votes came from in the election and why that shows a hunger for accountability over pandemic policies." [editor's note: Will that "acountablity" include the regime of e.g. Ron "Huge Lockdown Fan" DeSantis? – TLK] (11/21/22)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/republicans-cant-miss-moment-hold-covid-regimes-accountable
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27) America's Soviet Election System
Source: The American Conservative
by Katya Sedgwick
"In the USSR, 'elections' were play-acted to cover up autocracy. Alexei Yurchak explained in Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More how, in the 1970s and '80s, the language of Soviet propaganda was designed to give the impression of stability, and the population was enlisted to reproduce slogans written by the Kremlin. Likewise, the results of Soviet 'elections' were predetermined, but everyone was mired in the lie of participation, to help create the illusion of an indestructible regime. America today has a mirror problem. A sense of suspense around the key races is the norm -- pundits generate attention-grabbing headlines, polls are interpreted every which way, and bets are placed on PredictIt.org. At the same time, the process itself is becoming increasingly opaque." (11/21/22)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/americas-soviet-election-system/
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28) America's Bitter Divisions Continue: The Impact of the 2022 Midterm Elections
Source: Cato Institute
by Ted Galen Carpenter
"Given the nearly even split in Congress, with neither party having a clear mandate, there are unlikely to be many significant changes in domestic policies. A legislative stalemate is the most probable outcome, with President Biden then resorting to an even greater use of executive orders--a tactic of dubious constitutional validity when used to implement broad policy initiatives, despite the absence of congressional legislation. Biden's fondness for such measures has already sparked intense opposition and multiple court suits. Foreign policy is the one area in which bipartisanship is likely to prevail, but that is not necessarily a good situation." (11/21/22)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/americas-bitter-divisions-continue-impact-2022-midterm-elections
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29) What bubbles below the Gulf's oil giants
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
"The Arab states in the Gulf, which account for nearly half of the world's oil supply, also hold the lowest combined rankings for democratic freedoms and rights. The two characteristics help explain why democracies face a balancing act to live up to their values while doing business with these vital sources of energy. Last Friday, for example, U.S. President Joe Biden drew fire by affirming immunity for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite U.S. intelligence reports that link the de facto Saudi leader to the 2018 killing of a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, the House of Lords plans a debate on how the government might 'address human rights abuses in the Gulf States.'" (11/21/22)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2022/1121/What-bubbles-below-the-Gulf-s-oil-giants
-----
30) FDR's Gold Nationalization Set the Stage for Today's Inflation
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"Contrary to claims made by the mainstream press and high-school and college economics teachers, America never had a monetary system in which paper money was "backed by gold." Gold coins and silver coins, not paper money, were America's official money for more than 125 years. That's a long time. So, how is that we are living today under a paper-money standard? One thing is for sure: The Constitution was never amended to abolish the gold-coin, silver-coin standard that was called for in the Constitution and that was in existence for more than a century. So, how was it possible to replace the constitutional system of gold coins and silver coins with a paper-money system if there was never a constitutional amendment to accomplish this?" (11/21/22)
https://www.fff.org/2022/11/21/fdrs-gold-nationalization-set-the-stage-for-todays-inflation/
-----
31) From Covid to CBDC: The Path to Full Control
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Josh Stylman
"It's seemed evident for a while that the current fiat monetary system is, at best, unstable. At worst, it's a Ponzi scheme whose time has expired. If that's the case, I suspect the central bankers and 0.1% know this and might be prepared to usher in the new system before the old one collapses on itself -- even as they loot it on the way down with the most significant wealth transfer in human history. To anyone who pays attention to these trends, it seems evident that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be that new system." (11/21/22)
https://brownstone.org/articles/covid-to-cbdc-to-full-control/
-----
32) FBI Director Christopher Wray grilled on using bureau jet for vacation
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
"Hero FBI whistleblower special agent Steve Friend has been let down by the Office of Special Counsel, which rejected his complaint about FBI politicization two days after the midterms. The rejection letter, signed by Johanna Oliver, attorney in the Disclosure Unit, says FBI Director Christopher Wray has complete 'discretion to approve departure' from bureau rules for investigations. In other words, anything goes. But Friend continues his quest to stop the bureau abusing its power. Now, he and dozens of suspended and sympathetic FBI employees are busy formulating questions to ask Wray during an all-hands virtual meeting with 36,000 FBI employees, believed to be on Dec. 7." (11/20/22)
https://nypost.com/2022/11/20/christopher-wray-grilled-on-using-fbi-jet-for-vacation/
-----
33) Donald Trump and the blue-tick pricks
Source: spiked
by Brendan O'Neill
"So Elon Musk has done it. He's brought back Trump. After conducting a Twitter poll on whether Trump should be unbanned -- by far the most transparent thing the Twitter company has ever done -- Musk and his minions pressed a few buttons and The Donald was back online. Whether or not he'll actually tweet again is another matter (he says he won't). Regardless, Musk's reinstatement of Trump's account is a great blow against the tyrannical meddling of the worthy, woke, censorious fainthearts of Silicon Valley who have bizarrely come to exercise such extraordinary power over what may be thought and said in the 21st century." (11/21/22)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/11/21/donald-trump-and-the-blue-tick-pricks/
-----
34) Musk's Free Speech Moves On Twitter So Far Unimpressive
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
"When Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter was first announced this past April I said that the purchase likely wouldn't go through if the empire thought it posed a threat to its information interests. I said that any reduction of censorship protocols which Musk implements on the platform would probably not be of the sort that make any difference to the powerful, but would instead just amplify vapid partisan culture war nonsense. So far since Musk's takeover, this does appear to be the case. In recent days Twitter has reinstated the accounts of Donald Trump, Kanye West, Jordan Peterson, Project Veritas, Kathy Griffin, and the Babylon Bee. This to date is as close as Musk has come to honoring his stated intention of making Twitter a haven of free speech where people have a 'digital town square' to debate and discuss ideas." (11/21/22)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/11/21/musks-free-speech-moves-on-twitter-have-so-far-been-unimpressive/
-----
35) The Cuba Embargo: Isolating America
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
"Once a year, Cuba raises its head above the fence around America's backyard and calls out to the world to condemn its imprisonment. And, once a year, the US, despite all its lofty rhetoric of international order and democracy, ignores the voice of the United Nations General Assembly and goes on starving the people of Cuba. In thirty consecutive votes since 1992, the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the US embargo of Cuba. ... UN General Assembly votes are not legally binding. But the US has recently insisted, in other contexts, that the votes reflect world opinion and carry moral and democratic weight. If that's true, then the US has a moral and democratic responsibility to follow the international order it claims to defend and end the embargo on Cuba." (11/21/22)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2022/11/20/the-cuba-embargo-isolating-america/
-----
36) See the Surveillance State at Work in Your Own Community
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"'This week, EFF's Atlas of Surveillance project hit a bittersweet milestone,' EFF's Dave Maass, director of investigations, noted Nov. 17. 'The Atlas of Surveillance has now hit 10,000 data points. It contains at least partial data on approximately 5,500 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, as well as most territories and districts.' ... privacy may be dead, at least in public spaces. That means it's that much more important to make use of tools like the Atlas of Surveillance to publicize who is watching and what they are doing with the information." (11/21/22)
https://reason.com/2022/11/21/see-the-surveillance-state-at-work-in-your-own-community/
-----
37) The Promise of Habit-Based Learning
Source: Law & Liberty
by Barbara Oakley & Terrence Sejnowski
"Subconscious, habitual learning is far more common, complex, and important than we'd realized. This type of learning has been making a comeback everywhere except where it's needed most -- education. Education is a vital discipline, but something has gone awry. For example, over the past decades, the U.S. has dropped to the bottom of international rankings for developed countries in math. This decline has coincided with education reform, a shift that has emphasized understanding and downplayed practice. Could something that sounds so sensible have possibly been responsible for the drop? The science that underpins our understanding of teaching and learning can help us answer this question." (11/21/22)
https://lawliberty.org/features/the-promise-of-habit-based-learning/
-----
38) Media still trying to trick Americans about Hunter Biden
Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley
"The Biden family's influence peddling has always been a scandal left to the eye of the beholder. For some, it was dismissed as Russian disinformation or, more recently, simply the result of a drug addicted son of the president. Neither is true, but Hunter Biden has always been an example of motivated perception, or perceptual bias, where we tend to see what we want to see and turn a 'blind eye' to what we do not want to see. That phenomenon was on full display this week in an Associated Press article that made an extraordinary claim: that there is no evidence even suggesting that President Joe Biden ever spoke to his son about his foreign dealings." (11/21/22)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/media-still-trying-trick-americans-hunter-biden
-----
39) Quantum Vibe, 11/21/22
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (11/21/22)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2392
-----
40) Trump in Exile: A Tale of Two Men
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Frank Miele
"He was the best of candidates. He was the worst of candidates. He was regaled for his wisdom. He was reviled for his foolishness. He gave his followers hope, led his opponents to despair. Donald Trump is not Paris, and no 21st century American political writer reminds anyone of Charles Dickens, but I invoke the opening of 'A Tale of Two Cities' to illustrate the duality of hope and despair that the name Donald J. Trump elicits. MAGA Republicans got their wish Tuesday when Trump announced his third campaign for president. So did progressive Democrats. It remains to be seen which of them will live to regret their luck." (11/21/22)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/11/21/trump_in_exile_a_tale_of_two_men_148495.html
-----
41) SCOTUS turns away Virginia school's appeal of sex assault case
Source: SFGate
"The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a Virginia school board that says it shouldn't be held liable for the alleged sexual assault of a student by a classmate on a band trip. The court without comment on Monday rejected the appeal from the Fairfax County School Board. The case will now go to trial in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The case turned on whether a school system can be held liable under Title IX for a single alleged assault when there had been no prior notice of a problem. Title IX is the federal law that prevents discrimination on the basis of sex. The female student who says she was assaulted, identified only as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in 2018. She said a male classmate at Oakton High School sexually assaulted her on a school bus during an out-of-state band trip in 2017." (11/21/22)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Supreme-Court-turns-away-school-s-appeal-of-17601429.php
-----
42) Is FIFA World Cup Controversy Just One More Distraction?
Source: Common Dreams
by Simon Whalley
"Usually in the weeks leading up to soccer's showcase tournament, excitement is on the faces of people in every country represented. This World Cup feels different. The excitement has been subdued by allegation after allegation, ranging from 6,500 migrant workers dying during a ten year construction boom to Ecuador players being offered $7.4 million to throw the opening match. Evidently the bribe wasn't accepted as Ecuador ran out clear winners in the first opening World Cup game ever to end in defeat for the host nation. Additionally, LGBTQ supporters fear for their safety in a country where homosexuality is a crime, and perhaps the biggest concern for many fans is that they will now be forced to stay sober for a full 90 minutes after Qatar banned alcohol sales inside stadiums just two days before the opening game." (11/21/22)
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/11/21/fifa-world-cup-controversy-just-one-more-distraction
-----
43) Constructing an Unfixed Freedom
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Joel Williamson
"In every interaction and through every social structure, humans exercise an unavoidable psychological instinct known as self interest. It is a deep motivational factor that is inseparable from our subjectivity. Whether we are kind or cruel, it operates in the background of our decisions and persists despite our awareness of its presence. It is a definitive root feature of the human animal. While such an amoral observation does not speak to how one ought pursue their interest, it may create a foundation on which we can explore such matters and build a politic worth having." (11/21/22)
https://c4ss.org/content/57640
-----
44) Perfect Failure in Pursuit of Perfect Competition
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Robertas Bakula
"Legislators in the European Union, who have long been losing the game of innovation to the USA and China, claim to have found the culprit for the continent's failure: American Big Tech. They allege Big Tech companies create an unfair competitive environment in Europe, preventing small innovators from breaking into the market. To restore the 'level playing field,' the EU signed the Digital Market Act (DMA), which, starting on May 2, 2023, will heavily regulate ten American (and one European) technological giants. Since only one European company (Siemens) ranks on the list of the Top 20 most innovative firms in the world, Europe must pull itself together. But an outright attack on the most innovative companies is a rather peculiar way to promote innovation." (11/21/22)
https://www.aier.org/article/perfect-failure-in-pursuit-of-perfect-competition/
-----
45) Bitcoin Is Far More Than An Investment
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg
"Over the past few years, huge numbers of people have come to see Bitcoin as an investment ... as a stock. That's because a significant percentage of the populace -- certainly a good percentage of the investing class -- knows someone, at least a friend of a friend, who has done very well with Bitcoin. That's the kind of thing that people notice, and not unreasonably so. The truth, however, is that Bitcoin is more and better than an investment ... much more and much better." (11/20/22)
https://freemansperspective.com/bitcoin-is-far-more-than-an-investment/
-----
46) Analyzing the Strange Coincidences in Maricopa County
Source: Town Hall
by Rachel Alexander
"The Democrats, MSM and RINOs are complaining about voters' concerns over election fraud, saying 'we need to move on,' 'quit living in the past,' and 'no one cares about it as an issue, you're hurting the Republican Party to continue focusing on it.' There may be a grain of truth in all of that, but it's outweighed by the fact that we may never get another Republican president into office and more states will turn blue if we don't stop the fraud. No one really believes deep down that Arizona rejected four top Republican candidates (three who were leading in almost every poll, including MSM polls) considering the breakdown of voter registration in the state." [editor's note: Actually, nearly everybody believes that when you run shitty candidates, you lose races to candidates who aren't quite as shitty – TLK] (11/21/22)
https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2022/11/21/analyzing-the-strange-coincidences-in-maricopa-county-during-the-2022-midterm-election-n2616183
-----
47) Natural Gas and American Left-Populism
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
"The possible shortages -- not metaphorical, but literal shortages -- of natural gas and electricity this winter in New England are the product of our own politicos, their protectionism, price controls, dirigisme, and populism. ... Despite being a former Harvard University professor, the person who is perhaps the best representative of left-wing populism in America and, from this viewpoint, a Trump twin, Elizabeth Warren added to the obfuscation. The Financial Times reports: 'As Gulf terminals export record volumes of gas, Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, this year urged the administration of Joe Biden to curb LNG exports 'to keep prices low for American consumers.' In other words, since Americans are forbidden to import the services of foreign ships to transport goods between American ports, they should also be forbidden to export the LNG they produced." (11/20/22)
https://www.econlib.org/natural-gas-and-american-left-populism/
-----
48) Turkey Is Starving the Rojava Revolution
Source: Jacobin
by Anna Rebrii & Jihan Ayo
"For a decade, the autonomous administration in northeast Syria has provided an alternative to dictatorship and Islamist terror. Yet still today Erdoğan's Turkey is working to stop the revolution -- including by cutting off its water and energy supplies." (11/20/22)
https://jacobin.com/2022/11/rojava-turkey-attacks-water-shortage-cooperative-economy/
-----
49) Make Anarchism Great Again: A Call for a Stateless Form of Populism
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
"Something very stupid is happening in America. People have never been more disgusted with their bullshit form of government and yet they've never been more devoted to engaging in the partisan bullshit that defines it. It is a weird hot mess of bipolar enlightenment and social lunacy that quite frankly baffles me. ... The state has clearly flunked every existential test of faith you can possibly conceive of, from Covid to climate change, but the same kids with a front row seat to these epic gorings just keep on lining up to ride that feral bull. This is precisely the kind of polluted ecosystem that should be ripe as rabies for another rise in anarchism, but no one can seem to relate to salvation. So, they lose themselves in the electoral market for saviors instead." (11/20/22)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2022/11/make-anarchism-great-again-call-for.html
-----
50) The Worst-Case Scenarios of the Republican House
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
"The Republican House of Representatives appears to have all the makings of becoming the worst-run government entity in American, or maybe world, history. At most, Republicans will have a four-vote advantage in the House. And the willingness of the Freedom Caucus to reject anything not contoured to their far-right beliefs will make it impossible to find a working majority for much of anything. Post office namings could be tied up for weeks; there's no telling with this fragile majority. There aren't even 218 votes at this moment for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. The House GOP's main output will take the form of twenty-kajillion investigations of the president's son and sundry federal agencies. But Republicans do understand how to use their leverage, even if they can't always get their fractious caucus to agree on the outcomes." (11/21/22)
https://prospect.org/politics/worst-case-scenarios-of-the-republican-house/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/21/22
Source: Reason
"Wallowing Around in a Gerontocracy." (11/21/220
https://reason.com/podcast/2022/11/21/wallowing-around-in-a-gerontocracy/
-----
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 352
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Did Zelensky Damage Ukraine's Reputation?" (11/21/22)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-352-did-zelensky-damage-ukraines-reputation
-----
53) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 11/21/22
Source: FiveThirtyEight
"How The '90s Shaped Today's GOP." (11/21/22)
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/politics-podcast-how-the-90s-shaped-todays-gop/
-----
54) Rising, 11/21/22
Source: The Hill
"Batya Ungar-Sargon and Robby Soave discuss news that Nancy Pelosi will not enter a bid for Speaker of the House in the next Congress." (11/21/22)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/3744884-rising-november-21-2022/
-----
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 11/21/22
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
"When you hear someone complain about our diminishing rights, do you consider them to be a crybaby? Todd Hayen asks and answers, what's all this fuss about rights?" (11/21/22)
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-4948t-131ced6
-----
56) EconTalk, 11/21/22
Source: EconTalk
"Johnathan Bi on Mimesis and Rene Girard." (11/21/22)
https://www.econtalk.org/johnathan-bi-on-mimesis-and-rene-girard/
-----
57) Finding Freedom, episode 360
Source: Lions of Liberty
"Creating a Spendable Gold Currency with Jeremy Cordon." (11/21/22)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/creating-a-spendable-gold-currency-with-jeremy-cordon
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/21/22
Source: Antiwar.com
"US, Russia New START Talks Begin Nov. 29, Turkey Launches Major Airstrikes Against Kurds, and More." (11/21/22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAwlkCHGcHA
-----
59) Free Talk Live, 11/20/22
Source: Free Talk Live
"Sinkhole eats police station :: Puffy replaces the need for the physical presence of a person :: Public school mandates teaching climate change in all school subjects k-12 :: Netherlands Is Helping Its Disabled Have Sex :: 2022-11-20 Captain Kickass, Nikki, Kahuna." (11/20/22)
https://odysee.com/@FreeTalkLive:d/2022-11-20:9b
-----
60) Daniel McAdams on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
"Daniel McAdams on the Poland Missile Incident and Prospects for Negotiations." (11/20/22)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/11-18-22-daniel-mcadams-on-the-poland-missile-incident-and-prospects-for-negotiations/
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Year-End Fundraiser Update: THANKFUL
1) Steve Kubby, 1946-2022
2) Qatar: Iranian soccer team refuses to sing national anthem ahead of World Cup match
3) Jury to begin deliberating in "Oath Keepers'" seditious conspiracy trial
4) AP Fires Reporter Behind Retracted "Russian Missiles" Story
5) Judge rules Psaki must be deposed in lawsuit over alleged "collusion" with Big Tech
6) NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit
7) German regime offers Polish regime Patriot missiles to defend airspace
8) Oil prices hit 10-month low on OPEC+ production boost report
9) Palestine: Israeli occupation troops murder student "on his way to school"
10) Colombia: Government, guerrilla group resume peace talks
11) US Senate Judiciary panel to review 2014 SCOTUS leak claim
12) Indonesia: More than 150 dead in Java earthquake
13) New Zealand: Court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory
14) NY: Gang members mistakenly shoot member of mutually affiliated gang
15) UK: T. rex auction cancelled after skeleton doubts raised
16) Sunak: UK regime won't align with EU regime's laws in post Brexit relationship
17) Palestine: Israeli woman attacked by Secret Service agent ahead of Biden visit sues
18) Large rail union SMART-TD votes to reject labor deal as national strike moves closer
19) KY: Louisville police chief to resign at end of year
20) Syria: Kurdish militants fire at Turkish border town, killing three
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Free Speech, Social Media, and Intellectual Silos
22) Why Sam Bankman-Fried Sounded so Much Like a Rand Villain
23) War in the Ukraine is Not a Fight Between Good and Evil; Just Bad vs. Bad
24) The Age of Stasis
25) One Way or Another or Another
26) Republicans can't miss the moment to hold COVID regimes accountable
27) America's Soviet Election System
28) America's Bitter Divisions Continue: The Impact of the 2022 Midterm Elections
29) What bubbles below the Gulf's oil giants
30) FDR's Gold Nationalization Set the Stage for Today's Inflation
31) From Covid to CBDC: The Path to Full Control
32) FBI Director Christopher Wray grilled on using bureau jet for vacation
33) Donald Trump and the blue-tick pricks
34) Musk's Free Speech Moves On Twitter So Far Unimpressive
35) The Cuba Embargo: Isolating America
36) See the Surveillance State at Work in Your Own Community
37) The Promise of Habit-Based Learning
38) Media still trying to trick Americans about Hunter Biden
39) Quantum Vibe, 11/21/22
40) Trump in Exile: A Tale of Two Men
41) SCOTUS turns away Virginia school's appeal of sex assault case
42) Is FIFA World Cup Controversy Just One More Distraction?
43) Constructing an Unfixed Freedom
44) Perfect Failure in Pursuit of Perfect Competition
45) Bitcoin Is Far More Than An Investment
46) Analyzing the Strange Coincidences in Maricopa County
47) Natural Gas and American Left-Populism
48) Turkey Is Starving the Rojava Revolution
49) Make Anarchism Great Again: A Call for a Stateless Form of Populism
50) The Worst-Case Scenarios of the Republican House
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/21/22
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 352
53) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 11/21/22
54) Rising, 11/21/22
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 11/21/22
56) EconTalk, 11/21/22
57) Finding Freedom, episode 360
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/21/22
59) Free Talk Live, 11/20/22
60) Daniel McAdams on The Scott Horton Show
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0) Year-End Fundraiser Update: THANKFUL
We're THANKFUL for supporter TL, whose $15 contribution yesterday brings our year-end fundraiser total (as of 6am US Eastern on Tuesday morning) to $1,946!
We'll be even more THANKFUL if we can wrap the fundraiser up by the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. We're $629 short of our goal -- $2,575, plus the "matching funds" offered by supporter GL, which will bring us to $5,150.
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-----
1) Steve Kubby, 1946-2022
Source: KN@PPSTER
"I hear from several sources (including his son, Sky Sierran Kubby, on Facebook) that Steve Kubby has died at the age of 75, 'surrounded by his family.' I've not seen any mainstream news stories, so I'm just passing on the sad news myself. His family and friends have my deepest sympathy for their loss. Steve was a great man, a great libertarian, and a great friend. His work on California"s Proposition 215 counts, in my opinion, as the starting point down the road we've since followed to legal medical and recreational marijuana across much of the US. Marijuana, as he told everyone who would listen, saved his life; his efforts to end the war on it, and his explorations of its medical potential, have since saved thousands of lives, thousands of years people might otherwise have spent in prison or in chronic pain, etc." (11/21/22)
https://knappster.blogspot.com/2022/11/steve-kubby-1946-2022.html
-----
2) Qatar: Iranian soccer team refuses to sing national anthem ahead of World Cup match
Source: CBS News
"The Iranian soccer team's players chose not to sing their country's national anthem before their opening match against England on Monday at the World Cup in Qatar, in apparent solidarity with protesters back home. As Iran's national anthem played at Khalifa International Stadium, television cameras showed the starting players standing stoically, but not singing. Iran lost the match to England, 6-2. Prior to the game, team captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh said he and his teammates would decide 'collectively' whether they would take a stand during the anthem in support of the anti-government protests. In the team's friendly match against Nicaragua on November 11, most of the players declined to sing the anthem, AFP reported." (11/21/22)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-national-anthem-world-cup-england/
-----
3) Jury to begin deliberating in "Oath Keepers'" seditious conspiracy trial
Source: NBC News
"For the first time in at least a decade, a jury is set to deliberate federal seditious conspiracy charges, weighing the government's case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers organization who prosecutors say plotted to oppose the peaceful transfer of power by force in the lead-up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is facing trial alongside four other defendants: Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell. ... After hearing from the government last week and from the defendants' attorneys on Friday and Monday, federal prosecutors got the last word during rebuttal before the case went to the jury late Monday. ... U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta told jurors they would begin deliberations at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday and resume deliberations on Monday after the Thanksgiving break." (11/21/22)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keepers-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy-trial-jury-begins-deliberating-rcna58070
-----
4) AP Fires Reporter Behind Retracted "Russian Missiles" Story
Source: The Daily Beast
"The Associated Press scared much of the world last Tuesday when it alerted readers that 'a senior U.S. intelligence official' said 'Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.' That report, which was widely cited across the internet and on cable news, was taken offline the following day and replaced with an editor's note admitting the single source was wrong and that 'subsequent reporting showed that the missiles were Russian-made and most likely fired by Ukraine in defense against a Russian attack.' On Monday, the AP fired James LaPorta, the investigative reporter responsible for that story, Confider has learned. The piece, which was originally co-bylined with John Leicester (who is still working at the AP), attributed the information to a single 'senior U.S. intelligence official,' despite the AP's rule that it 'routinely seeks and requires more than one source when sourcing is anonymous.'" (11/21/22)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ap-fires-reporter-behind-retracted-russian-missiles-story
-----
5) Judge rules Psaki must be deposed in lawsuit over alleged "collusion" with Big Tech
Source: Fox News
"A federal judge ruled Monday that former White House press secretary Jen Psaki must comply with a subpoena and offer deposition in a lawsuit that claims the Biden administration colluded with Big Tech to censor speech. Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana on Monday rejected a motion by attorneys for Psaki to block a court-ordered deposition, and said there is public interest in 'determining whether First Amendment free speech rights have been suppressed'. Monday's order follows a ruling from U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan Davis, who on Friday transferred the case back to Louisiana after Psaki attempted to fight the deposition in a Virginia court where she lives and would be deposed. Biden's Justice Department supported her effort." (11/21/22)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-rules-jen-psaki-sit-deposition-lawsuit-collusion-big-tech-censor-speech
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6) NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit
Source: Associated Press
"NASA's Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts. It's the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA's Apollo program 50 years ago, and represents a huge milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday. ... The capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit, before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for Dec. 11." (11/21/22)
https://apnews.com/article/astronomy-space-exploration-science-business-moon-18cfd8a2592a544976f4cf72209ae9e4
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7) German regime offers Polish regime Patriot missiles to defend airspace
Source: Seattle Times
"Germany has offered Eurofighters and Patriot defense systems to Poland to help it defend its airspace, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told German newspapers in comments published Monday. 'We have to position ourselves in the alliance even better in terms of air defense,' and that that goes particularly for Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic countries, she told the Rheinische Post and General-Anzeiger newspapers. ... Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he received Germany's offer of additional Patriot missiles 'with satisfaction' and will have them deployed close to the border with Ukraine." (11/21/22)
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/germany-offers-poland-patriot-missiles-to-defend-airspace/
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8) Oil prices hit 10-month low on OPEC+ production boost report
Source: Reuters
"Oil prices dropped to their lowest since early January on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC oil producers are discussing an output increase. Brent crude futures for January had slipped $4.07, or 4.7%, to $83.55 a barrel by 1518 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were down $4.02, or 5%, at $76.06 ahead of the contract's expiry later on Monday. The more active January contract was down $3.82, or 4.8%, at $76.29. An increase of up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be discussed at the OPEC+ meeting on Dec. 4, The Wall Street Journal reported." (11/21/22)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-dips-near-2-month-lows-supply-concerns-ease-2022-11-21/
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9) Palestine: Israeli occupation troops murder student "on his way to school"
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]
"A Palestinian high-school student has been shot dead while he was reportedly on his way to school, during a raid by Israeli forces on the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin. Relatives confirmed to Al Jazeera that the man killed on Monday was Mahmoud al-Saadi. The Palestinian Ministry of Health told Al Jazeera that he was 18 years old, and said he was shot in the stomach. At least four other Palestinians were wounded after being shot, according to the ministry and local journalists. The Palestinian Ministry of Education mourned al-Saadi in a statement on Monday. It said he was a student at the Farhat Hashad Boys Secondary School in Jenin and and that he had been killed on his way to school. ... The Israeli army said in a statement that they had returned fire during an operation to arrest nine wanted Palestinians." (11/21/22)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/21/israeli-forces-kill-young-palestinian-man-in-occupied-west-bank-2
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10) Colombia: Government, guerrilla group resume peace talks
Source: SFGate
"The Colombian government and the South American country's largest remaining guerrilla group resumed peace talks Monday, breaking a roughly four-year hiatus during which the rebels have expanded the territory where they operate. Neighboring Venezuela, whose government resumed diplomatic relations with Colombia only a few months ago, hosted the representatives of the National Liberation Army and the government of President Gustavo Petro. The discussions in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, came more than a month after the rebels and Petro's government announced the resumption of negotiations. The delegates in a joint declaration stated they had gathered to restart political dialogue 'with full political and ethical will, as demanded by the people of rural and urban territories that suffer from violence and exclusion, and other sectors of society.' They added that they are willing to 'build peace based on a democracy with justice.'" (11/21/22)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Colombian-government-guerrilla-group-resume-17601647.php
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11) US Senate Judiciary panel to review 2014 SCOTUS leak claim
Source: Axios
"Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced his panel is reviewing 'serious allegations' in a New York Times report Saturday that a 2014 Supreme Court ruling was leaked to a former anti-abortion activist weeks in advance. ... Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote majority opinions in both the 2014 Hobby Lobby contraception and religious-liberty case and the leaked draft opinion of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, has said any suggestion that he or his wife disclosed the 2014 ruling early to anyone was 'false.' Former anti-abortion leader Rev. Rob Schenck told the NYT that Gayle Wright, a donor to the evangelical organization he then ran, informed him of the decision. However, Wright 'denied obtaining or passing along any such information,' the NYT reports." (11/21/22)
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/21/senate-judiciary-panel-review-2014-supreme-court-leak-claim
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12) Indonesia: More than 150 dead in Java earthquake
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
"At least 162 people were killed after an earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Java on Monday, with the tremors being felt in the capital Jakarta, the island's governor said. The magnitude 5.6 quake -- according to the US Geological Survey -- struck in the afternoon in the Cianjur region of West Java province, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of the capital. ... The number of dead and injured was still being assessed and authorities said both could rise. Earlier estimates put the number of injured at over 700. Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, said that at least 25 people are believed to be trapped under rubble. Initial counts estimate 2,000 houses were damaged, with 13,000 people taken to evacuation centers." (11/21/22)
https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-over-150-killed-as-earthquake-hits-island-of-java/a-63828694
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13) New Zealand: Court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory
Source: CNN
"New Zealand's highest court ruled on Monday that the country's current voting age of 18 was discriminatory, forcing parliament to discuss whether it should be lowered. The case, which has been going through the courts since 2020, was bought by advocacy group Make It 16, which wants the age lowered to include 16 and 17 year olds. The Supreme Court found that the current voting age of 18 was inconsistent with the country's Bill of Rights, which gives people a right to be free from age discrimination when they have reached 16." (11/21/22)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/21/world/new-zealand-voter-age-18-debate-intl-hnk/index.html
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14) NY: Gang members mistakenly shoot member of mutually affiliated gang
Source: NBC Newes
"An off-duty sheriff's deputy from Vermont was shot multiple times by police in New York after he was involved in a gunfight with another group of people early Sunday morning, police said. Shots were fired around 3 a.m. at the intersection of Broadway and Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, New York, near an area with bars and nightlife, following a scuffle between the deputy and a group of people from the Utica area, police said. The deputy, who was not identified, was 'physically attacked' by at least three people, slammed into the hood of a car and knocked to the ground, Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino said during a news conference Sunday. ... A number of Saratoga Springs officers were on duty around the corner on Caroline Street and heard the confrontation .... three officers discharged their weapons, firing a total of 11 shots, resulting in the deputy falling to the ground." (11/21/22)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-duty-vermont-sheriffs-deputy-shot-multiple-police-gunfight-new-york-rcna58130
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15) UK: T. rex auction cancelled after skeleton doubts raised
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A T. rex skeleton which was expected to fetch up to $25m (£21m) at auction has been withdrawn after doubts were raised over where parts of it had come from. Auction house Christie's confirmed to the BBC that the Tyrannosaurus Rex would not be amongst the lots going under the hammer in Hong Kong on 30 November. It said the seller had decided to loan the skeleton to a museum instead. Christie's did not give a reason why the sale had been withdrawn. The New York Times reports that a US fossil company raised concerns that parts of the skeleton, named Shen, looked like replicas from another T. rex skeleton called Stan. The Black Hills Institute holds the intellectual property rights to Stan, meaning it is allowed to sell replicas, with casts costing $120,000." (11/21/22)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63700297
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16) Sunak: UK regime won't align with EU regime's laws in post Brexit relationship
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
"British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday denied that his government was seeking to row back on the UK's EU withdrawal deal, despite an apparent growing backlash against Brexit. Brexit-supporter Sunak told business leaders that life outside the European Union was 'already delivering enormous benefits and opportunities.' He touted greater curbs on immigration -- a key plank of the Brexit deal -- and closer trade ties with Asia. But he added: 'Let me be unequivocal about this: under my leadership, the United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws.' The UK left the EU in full in January 2021, after years of political wrangling since the divisive referendum n 2016 to split from the bloc." (11/21/22)
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3200458/british-pm-sunak-uk-wont-align-eu-laws-post-brexit-relationship
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17) Palestine: Israeli woman attacked by Secret Service agent ahead of Biden visit sues
Source: New York Post
"The Israeli woman allegedly assaulted in July by an off-duty Secret Service agent -- who was in Jerusalem to prep for President Biden's visit -- filed a civil lawsuit Monday. Tamar Ben Haim brought the case in DC federal court against the unidentified agent over the July 12 attack, which took place in an alleyway while she was walking home around 1 a.m. The 30-year-old graphic designer says the man -- who she saw had a gun -- 'began hitting and slapping me' and she thought 'that these were my last moments on Earth.' The man 'held Tamar tightly, hit her on her chest, repeatedly, slapped her, causing her earring and earphone to fall to the ground," the court papers claim. Ben Haim screamed for help but no one came until a man accompanying her assailant pulled him off her before leaving the scene, the filing claims." (11/21/22)
https://nypost.com/2022/11/21/tamar-ben-haim-sues-over-assault-by-off-duty-secret-service-agent/
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18) Large rail union SMART-TD votes to reject labor deal as national strike moves closer
Source: CNBC
"SMART-TD, one of the largest railroad labor unions, voted down the tentative agreement with rail management, raising the likelihood of a strike in December. The BLET, the other largest union which represents engineers, voted to ratify the labor deal but said it will honor the picket line. ... The BMWED, which represents the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, is scheduled to strike on December 5 with The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS). But BMWED announced it would extend its cooling-off period if one of the larger unions voted not to ratify the tentative labor deal. The BRS has not indicated whether it will extend its deadline for talks." (11/21/22)
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/21/smart-td-votes-down-labor-deal-as-rails-move-closer-to-national-strike.html
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19) KY: Louisville police chief to resign at end of year
Source: SFGate
"Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields will step down in January, less than two years after she took the job amid tensions over the department's handling of Breonna Taylor's fatal shooting by police. Louisville Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg said Monday that he recently spoke to Shields and she offered to submit her resignation, giving Greenberg the opportunity to pick a new chief when his term begins on Jan. 2. Shields took over in January 2021, months after the Taylor shooting and a summer full of street protests that called attention to the shooting and police treatment of protesters. She was the fourth chief to lead the department after Taylor was killed in March 2020. Former Chief Steve Conrad was fired and two interim chiefs served short terms in 2020. Greenberg, a Democrat who won the mayor's race earlier this month, said he would name an interim chief to serve beginning in January while the new chief is selected." (11/21/22)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Louisville-police-chief-to-resign-in-at-end-of-17601839.php
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20) Syria: Kurdish militants fire at Turkish border town, killing three
Source: ABC News
"Suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets across the border into Turkey on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding 10 others, Turkish officials said. The attack followed deadly airstrikes by Turkey on suspected militant targets in Syria and Iraq. The rockets struck a high school and two houses in the town of Karkamis in Gaziantep province, as well as a truck near a Turkish-Syria border gate, Turkey's the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. ... The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces opened fire toward Karkamis from its positions near the Syrian border town of Kobani, according to Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor." (11/21/22)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-kurdish-militants-fire-turkish-border-town-93705349
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Free Speech, Social Media, and Intellectual Silos
Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
"In a recent article for CNN, Kara Alaimo voices some concerns about speech and social media. Though she makes frequent use of the term 'free speech,' what she's really worried about is unmoderated speech -- that is, speech which isn't restrained by the platform hosting the speaker. ... Alaimo is worried that social media platforms like Twitter, Parler, and Truth Social are insufficiently aggressive about moderating what she considers to be "conservative" speech. But in her article she also explains, without realizing it, why attempts to shut down certain viewpoints in these platforms will backfire in ways she would find regrettable. If you take people who hold a certain worldview (conservatism, say) and systematically shut them out of a public forum, those people don't simply disappear. Nor do they lose interest in discussing their ideas. Instead they will simply form a new platform designed for themselves and for like minded people." (11/21/22)
https://www.econlib.org/free-speech-social-media-and-intellectual-silos/
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22) Why Sam Bankman-Fried Sounded so Much Like a Rand Villain
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jon Miltimore
"The financial collapse of the crypto exchange FTX was brutal and swift. Almost overnight, its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried saw his $16 billion fortune wiped out. SBF, as he's popularly known, managed to fool almost the entire world -- though not quite everyone. In hindsight, it's not hard to see the red flags at FTX. There was no board of directors. Bankman-Fried couldn't answer simple questions about his funding. The executive leadership was shady and there was the whole 'cabal of roommates' in the Bahamas. One thing that hasn't gotten enough attention, however, is SBF's philosophy of 'effective altruism,' a social movement that rejects self-interest and instead focuses on 'how to benefit others as much as possible.'" (11/21/22)
https://fee.org/articles/why-sam-bankman-friedman-sounded-so-much-like-a-rand-villain/
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23) War in the Ukraine is Not a Fight Between Good and Evil; Just Bad vs. Bad
Source: CounterPunch
by David van Deusen
"Russia, the larger nation, is acting as the aggressor in the Ukraine. The invasion was motivated by a desire for empire and is imperialist in nature. But all fights are not created equal, fairytales are not all true, and all underdogs are not worthy of armed support. The Ukrainian state, like Russia, is rightwing. But unlike any other country in the world (at least since the fall of Franco's dictatorship in Spain), Ukraine has organized Nazi and fascist groupings overtly incorporated into its Armed Forces. One of these is the Azov Battalion, who have massive (and growing) influence within the Zelenskyy regime. ... These are the facts and they must be looked at with somber senses if we are to make an informed decision as to what is to be done next." (11/21/22)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/11/21/war-in-the-ukraine-is-not-a-fight-between-good-and-evil-just-bad-vs-bad/
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24) The Age of Stasis
Source: Niskanen Center
by Brink Lindsey
"It's my contention that 21st century capitalism is undergoing a triple crisis -- one of inclusion, one of dynamism, and one of politics. As to the first of these, I've already written a couple of essays looking at the socioeconomic and political marginalization of ordinary people since the advent of mass affluence. Now I'll turn to the crisis of dynamism. Piecing together what's happened and why will occupy me for the next few essays. We can conceive of this crisis in both narrower and more sweeping terms. As to the former, the concern is with declining rates of innovation and economic growth and growing barriers to scientific and technological progress. Zooming out and taking a larger view, there is the sense of a deeper, civilizational sclerosis." (11/21/22)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-age-of-stasis/
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25) One Way or Another or Another
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"The courts have not been kind to President Joe Biden's unilateral attempt to erase some $200 billion to $500 billion in student-loan debt. (By 'erase' I mean force all taxpayers to pay debt incurred by the millions of borrowers eligible for the forgiveness program.) ... Except that another student-loan-debt-erasing thing has been going on since early in the pandemic, a pause on debt payments rationalized by the economic hardship imposed by lockdowns. This pause was set to lapse at the end of this year, with payments to resume in January. But according to a White House insider 'familiar with the matter,' the administration has been making 'increasingly firm plans to extend the repayment pause.'" (11/21/22)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2022/11/21/one-way-or-another-or-another/
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26) Republicans can't miss the moment to hold COVID regimes accountable
Source: Fox News Forum
by Karol Markowicz
"Last week, we finally got confirmation that the Republicans have won the House of Representatives. This is good news, especially for those of us who want to see some accountability for the terrible COVID policies of the last few years. It's time for House hearings into the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The argument that Americans want to move on and forget what happened during the pandemic is contradicted by the recent election results. Yes, Republicans were hoping for a giant red wave and what they got was a red ripple. But it's important to note where their votes came from in the election and why that shows a hunger for accountability over pandemic policies." [editor's note: Will that "acountablity" include the regime of e.g. Ron "Huge Lockdown Fan" DeSantis? – TLK] (11/21/22)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/republicans-cant-miss-moment-hold-covid-regimes-accountable
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27) America's Soviet Election System
Source: The American Conservative
by Katya Sedgwick
"In the USSR, 'elections' were play-acted to cover up autocracy. Alexei Yurchak explained in Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More how, in the 1970s and '80s, the language of Soviet propaganda was designed to give the impression of stability, and the population was enlisted to reproduce slogans written by the Kremlin. Likewise, the results of Soviet 'elections' were predetermined, but everyone was mired in the lie of participation, to help create the illusion of an indestructible regime. America today has a mirror problem. A sense of suspense around the key races is the norm -- pundits generate attention-grabbing headlines, polls are interpreted every which way, and bets are placed on PredictIt.org. At the same time, the process itself is becoming increasingly opaque." (11/21/22)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/americas-soviet-election-system/
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28) America's Bitter Divisions Continue: The Impact of the 2022 Midterm Elections
Source: Cato Institute
by Ted Galen Carpenter
"Given the nearly even split in Congress, with neither party having a clear mandate, there are unlikely to be many significant changes in domestic policies. A legislative stalemate is the most probable outcome, with President Biden then resorting to an even greater use of executive orders--a tactic of dubious constitutional validity when used to implement broad policy initiatives, despite the absence of congressional legislation. Biden's fondness for such measures has already sparked intense opposition and multiple court suits. Foreign policy is the one area in which bipartisanship is likely to prevail, but that is not necessarily a good situation." (11/21/22)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/americas-bitter-divisions-continue-impact-2022-midterm-elections
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29) What bubbles below the Gulf's oil giants
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
"The Arab states in the Gulf, which account for nearly half of the world's oil supply, also hold the lowest combined rankings for democratic freedoms and rights. The two characteristics help explain why democracies face a balancing act to live up to their values while doing business with these vital sources of energy. Last Friday, for example, U.S. President Joe Biden drew fire by affirming immunity for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite U.S. intelligence reports that link the de facto Saudi leader to the 2018 killing of a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, the House of Lords plans a debate on how the government might 'address human rights abuses in the Gulf States.'" (11/21/22)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2022/1121/What-bubbles-below-the-Gulf-s-oil-giants
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30) FDR's Gold Nationalization Set the Stage for Today's Inflation
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"Contrary to claims made by the mainstream press and high-school and college economics teachers, America never had a monetary system in which paper money was "backed by gold." Gold coins and silver coins, not paper money, were America's official money for more than 125 years. That's a long time. So, how is that we are living today under a paper-money standard? One thing is for sure: The Constitution was never amended to abolish the gold-coin, silver-coin standard that was called for in the Constitution and that was in existence for more than a century. So, how was it possible to replace the constitutional system of gold coins and silver coins with a paper-money system if there was never a constitutional amendment to accomplish this?" (11/21/22)
https://www.fff.org/2022/11/21/fdrs-gold-nationalization-set-the-stage-for-todays-inflation/
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31) From Covid to CBDC: The Path to Full Control
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Josh Stylman
"It's seemed evident for a while that the current fiat monetary system is, at best, unstable. At worst, it's a Ponzi scheme whose time has expired. If that's the case, I suspect the central bankers and 0.1% know this and might be prepared to usher in the new system before the old one collapses on itself -- even as they loot it on the way down with the most significant wealth transfer in human history. To anyone who pays attention to these trends, it seems evident that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be that new system." (11/21/22)
https://brownstone.org/articles/covid-to-cbdc-to-full-control/
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32) FBI Director Christopher Wray grilled on using bureau jet for vacation
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
"Hero FBI whistleblower special agent Steve Friend has been let down by the Office of Special Counsel, which rejected his complaint about FBI politicization two days after the midterms. The rejection letter, signed by Johanna Oliver, attorney in the Disclosure Unit, says FBI Director Christopher Wray has complete 'discretion to approve departure' from bureau rules for investigations. In other words, anything goes. But Friend continues his quest to stop the bureau abusing its power. Now, he and dozens of suspended and sympathetic FBI employees are busy formulating questions to ask Wray during an all-hands virtual meeting with 36,000 FBI employees, believed to be on Dec. 7." (11/20/22)
https://nypost.com/2022/11/20/christopher-wray-grilled-on-using-fbi-jet-for-vacation/
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33) Donald Trump and the blue-tick pricks
Source: spiked
by Brendan O'Neill
"So Elon Musk has done it. He's brought back Trump. After conducting a Twitter poll on whether Trump should be unbanned -- by far the most transparent thing the Twitter company has ever done -- Musk and his minions pressed a few buttons and The Donald was back online. Whether or not he'll actually tweet again is another matter (he says he won't). Regardless, Musk's reinstatement of Trump's account is a great blow against the tyrannical meddling of the worthy, woke, censorious fainthearts of Silicon Valley who have bizarrely come to exercise such extraordinary power over what may be thought and said in the 21st century." (11/21/22)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/11/21/donald-trump-and-the-blue-tick-pricks/
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34) Musk's Free Speech Moves On Twitter So Far Unimpressive
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
"When Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter was first announced this past April I said that the purchase likely wouldn't go through if the empire thought it posed a threat to its information interests. I said that any reduction of censorship protocols which Musk implements on the platform would probably not be of the sort that make any difference to the powerful, but would instead just amplify vapid partisan culture war nonsense. So far since Musk's takeover, this does appear to be the case. In recent days Twitter has reinstated the accounts of Donald Trump, Kanye West, Jordan Peterson, Project Veritas, Kathy Griffin, and the Babylon Bee. This to date is as close as Musk has come to honoring his stated intention of making Twitter a haven of free speech where people have a 'digital town square' to debate and discuss ideas." (11/21/22)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/11/21/musks-free-speech-moves-on-twitter-have-so-far-been-unimpressive/
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35) The Cuba Embargo: Isolating America
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
"Once a year, Cuba raises its head above the fence around America's backyard and calls out to the world to condemn its imprisonment. And, once a year, the US, despite all its lofty rhetoric of international order and democracy, ignores the voice of the United Nations General Assembly and goes on starving the people of Cuba. In thirty consecutive votes since 1992, the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the US embargo of Cuba. ... UN General Assembly votes are not legally binding. But the US has recently insisted, in other contexts, that the votes reflect world opinion and carry moral and democratic weight. If that's true, then the US has a moral and democratic responsibility to follow the international order it claims to defend and end the embargo on Cuba." (11/21/22)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2022/11/20/the-cuba-embargo-isolating-america/
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36) See the Surveillance State at Work in Your Own Community
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"'This week, EFF's Atlas of Surveillance project hit a bittersweet milestone,' EFF's Dave Maass, director of investigations, noted Nov. 17. 'The Atlas of Surveillance has now hit 10,000 data points. It contains at least partial data on approximately 5,500 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, as well as most territories and districts.' ... privacy may be dead, at least in public spaces. That means it's that much more important to make use of tools like the Atlas of Surveillance to publicize who is watching and what they are doing with the information." (11/21/22)
https://reason.com/2022/11/21/see-the-surveillance-state-at-work-in-your-own-community/
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37) The Promise of Habit-Based Learning
Source: Law & Liberty
by Barbara Oakley & Terrence Sejnowski
"Subconscious, habitual learning is far more common, complex, and important than we'd realized. This type of learning has been making a comeback everywhere except where it's needed most -- education. Education is a vital discipline, but something has gone awry. For example, over the past decades, the U.S. has dropped to the bottom of international rankings for developed countries in math. This decline has coincided with education reform, a shift that has emphasized understanding and downplayed practice. Could something that sounds so sensible have possibly been responsible for the drop? The science that underpins our understanding of teaching and learning can help us answer this question." (11/21/22)
https://lawliberty.org/features/the-promise-of-habit-based-learning/
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38) Media still trying to trick Americans about Hunter Biden
Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley
"The Biden family's influence peddling has always been a scandal left to the eye of the beholder. For some, it was dismissed as Russian disinformation or, more recently, simply the result of a drug addicted son of the president. Neither is true, but Hunter Biden has always been an example of motivated perception, or perceptual bias, where we tend to see what we want to see and turn a 'blind eye' to what we do not want to see. That phenomenon was on full display this week in an Associated Press article that made an extraordinary claim: that there is no evidence even suggesting that President Joe Biden ever spoke to his son about his foreign dealings." (11/21/22)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/media-still-trying-trick-americans-hunter-biden
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39) Quantum Vibe, 11/21/22
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (11/21/22)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2392
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40) Trump in Exile: A Tale of Two Men
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Frank Miele
"He was the best of candidates. He was the worst of candidates. He was regaled for his wisdom. He was reviled for his foolishness. He gave his followers hope, led his opponents to despair. Donald Trump is not Paris, and no 21st century American political writer reminds anyone of Charles Dickens, but I invoke the opening of 'A Tale of Two Cities' to illustrate the duality of hope and despair that the name Donald J. Trump elicits. MAGA Republicans got their wish Tuesday when Trump announced his third campaign for president. So did progressive Democrats. It remains to be seen which of them will live to regret their luck." (11/21/22)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/11/21/trump_in_exile_a_tale_of_two_men_148495.html
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41) SCOTUS turns away Virginia school's appeal of sex assault case
Source: SFGate
"The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a Virginia school board that says it shouldn't be held liable for the alleged sexual assault of a student by a classmate on a band trip. The court without comment on Monday rejected the appeal from the Fairfax County School Board. The case will now go to trial in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The case turned on whether a school system can be held liable under Title IX for a single alleged assault when there had been no prior notice of a problem. Title IX is the federal law that prevents discrimination on the basis of sex. The female student who says she was assaulted, identified only as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in 2018. She said a male classmate at Oakton High School sexually assaulted her on a school bus during an out-of-state band trip in 2017." (11/21/22)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Supreme-Court-turns-away-school-s-appeal-of-17601429.php
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42) Is FIFA World Cup Controversy Just One More Distraction?
Source: Common Dreams
by Simon Whalley
"Usually in the weeks leading up to soccer's showcase tournament, excitement is on the faces of people in every country represented. This World Cup feels different. The excitement has been subdued by allegation after allegation, ranging from 6,500 migrant workers dying during a ten year construction boom to Ecuador players being offered $7.4 million to throw the opening match. Evidently the bribe wasn't accepted as Ecuador ran out clear winners in the first opening World Cup game ever to end in defeat for the host nation. Additionally, LGBTQ supporters fear for their safety in a country where homosexuality is a crime, and perhaps the biggest concern for many fans is that they will now be forced to stay sober for a full 90 minutes after Qatar banned alcohol sales inside stadiums just two days before the opening game." (11/21/22)
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/11/21/fifa-world-cup-controversy-just-one-more-distraction
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43) Constructing an Unfixed Freedom
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Joel Williamson
"In every interaction and through every social structure, humans exercise an unavoidable psychological instinct known as self interest. It is a deep motivational factor that is inseparable from our subjectivity. Whether we are kind or cruel, it operates in the background of our decisions and persists despite our awareness of its presence. It is a definitive root feature of the human animal. While such an amoral observation does not speak to how one ought pursue their interest, it may create a foundation on which we can explore such matters and build a politic worth having." (11/21/22)
https://c4ss.org/content/57640
-----
44) Perfect Failure in Pursuit of Perfect Competition
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Robertas Bakula
"Legislators in the European Union, who have long been losing the game of innovation to the USA and China, claim to have found the culprit for the continent's failure: American Big Tech. They allege Big Tech companies create an unfair competitive environment in Europe, preventing small innovators from breaking into the market. To restore the 'level playing field,' the EU signed the Digital Market Act (DMA), which, starting on May 2, 2023, will heavily regulate ten American (and one European) technological giants. Since only one European company (Siemens) ranks on the list of the Top 20 most innovative firms in the world, Europe must pull itself together. But an outright attack on the most innovative companies is a rather peculiar way to promote innovation." (11/21/22)
https://www.aier.org/article/perfect-failure-in-pursuit-of-perfect-competition/
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45) Bitcoin Is Far More Than An Investment
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg
"Over the past few years, huge numbers of people have come to see Bitcoin as an investment ... as a stock. That's because a significant percentage of the populace -- certainly a good percentage of the investing class -- knows someone, at least a friend of a friend, who has done very well with Bitcoin. That's the kind of thing that people notice, and not unreasonably so. The truth, however, is that Bitcoin is more and better than an investment ... much more and much better." (11/20/22)
https://freemansperspective.com/bitcoin-is-far-more-than-an-investment/
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46) Analyzing the Strange Coincidences in Maricopa County
Source: Town Hall
by Rachel Alexander
"The Democrats, MSM and RINOs are complaining about voters' concerns over election fraud, saying 'we need to move on,' 'quit living in the past,' and 'no one cares about it as an issue, you're hurting the Republican Party to continue focusing on it.' There may be a grain of truth in all of that, but it's outweighed by the fact that we may never get another Republican president into office and more states will turn blue if we don't stop the fraud. No one really believes deep down that Arizona rejected four top Republican candidates (three who were leading in almost every poll, including MSM polls) considering the breakdown of voter registration in the state." [editor's note: Actually, nearly everybody believes that when you run shitty candidates, you lose races to candidates who aren't quite as shitty – TLK] (11/21/22)
https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2022/11/21/analyzing-the-strange-coincidences-in-maricopa-county-during-the-2022-midterm-election-n2616183
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47) Natural Gas and American Left-Populism
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
"The possible shortages -- not metaphorical, but literal shortages -- of natural gas and electricity this winter in New England are the product of our own politicos, their protectionism, price controls, dirigisme, and populism. ... Despite being a former Harvard University professor, the person who is perhaps the best representative of left-wing populism in America and, from this viewpoint, a Trump twin, Elizabeth Warren added to the obfuscation. The Financial Times reports: 'As Gulf terminals export record volumes of gas, Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, this year urged the administration of Joe Biden to curb LNG exports 'to keep prices low for American consumers.' In other words, since Americans are forbidden to import the services of foreign ships to transport goods between American ports, they should also be forbidden to export the LNG they produced." (11/20/22)
https://www.econlib.org/natural-gas-and-american-left-populism/
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48) Turkey Is Starving the Rojava Revolution
Source: Jacobin
by Anna Rebrii & Jihan Ayo
"For a decade, the autonomous administration in northeast Syria has provided an alternative to dictatorship and Islamist terror. Yet still today Erdoğan's Turkey is working to stop the revolution -- including by cutting off its water and energy supplies." (11/20/22)
https://jacobin.com/2022/11/rojava-turkey-attacks-water-shortage-cooperative-economy/
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49) Make Anarchism Great Again: A Call for a Stateless Form of Populism
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
"Something very stupid is happening in America. People have never been more disgusted with their bullshit form of government and yet they've never been more devoted to engaging in the partisan bullshit that defines it. It is a weird hot mess of bipolar enlightenment and social lunacy that quite frankly baffles me. ... The state has clearly flunked every existential test of faith you can possibly conceive of, from Covid to climate change, but the same kids with a front row seat to these epic gorings just keep on lining up to ride that feral bull. This is precisely the kind of polluted ecosystem that should be ripe as rabies for another rise in anarchism, but no one can seem to relate to salvation. So, they lose themselves in the electoral market for saviors instead." (11/20/22)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2022/11/make-anarchism-great-again-call-for.html
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50) The Worst-Case Scenarios of the Republican House
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
"The Republican House of Representatives appears to have all the makings of becoming the worst-run government entity in American, or maybe world, history. At most, Republicans will have a four-vote advantage in the House. And the willingness of the Freedom Caucus to reject anything not contoured to their far-right beliefs will make it impossible to find a working majority for much of anything. Post office namings could be tied up for weeks; there's no telling with this fragile majority. There aren't even 218 votes at this moment for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. The House GOP's main output will take the form of twenty-kajillion investigations of the president's son and sundry federal agencies. But Republicans do understand how to use their leverage, even if they can't always get their fractious caucus to agree on the outcomes." (11/21/22)
https://prospect.org/politics/worst-case-scenarios-of-the-republican-house/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/21/22
Source: Reason
"Wallowing Around in a Gerontocracy." (11/21/220
https://reason.com/podcast/2022/11/21/wallowing-around-in-a-gerontocracy/
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52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 352
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Did Zelensky Damage Ukraine's Reputation?" (11/21/22)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-352-did-zelensky-damage-ukraines-reputation
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53) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 11/21/22
Source: FiveThirtyEight
"How The '90s Shaped Today's GOP." (11/21/22)
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/politics-podcast-how-the-90s-shaped-todays-gop/
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54) Rising, 11/21/22
Source: The Hill
"Batya Ungar-Sargon and Robby Soave discuss news that Nancy Pelosi will not enter a bid for Speaker of the House in the next Congress." (11/21/22)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/3744884-rising-november-21-2022/
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55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 11/21/22
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
"When you hear someone complain about our diminishing rights, do you consider them to be a crybaby? Todd Hayen asks and answers, what's all this fuss about rights?" (11/21/22)
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-4948t-131ced6
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56) EconTalk, 11/21/22
Source: EconTalk
"Johnathan Bi on Mimesis and Rene Girard." (11/21/22)
https://www.econtalk.org/johnathan-bi-on-mimesis-and-rene-girard/
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57) Finding Freedom, episode 360
Source: Lions of Liberty
"Creating a Spendable Gold Currency with Jeremy Cordon." (11/21/22)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/creating-a-spendable-gold-currency-with-jeremy-cordon
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/21/22
Source: Antiwar.com
"US, Russia New START Talks Begin Nov. 29, Turkey Launches Major Airstrikes Against Kurds, and More." (11/21/22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAwlkCHGcHA
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59) Free Talk Live, 11/20/22
Source: Free Talk Live
"Sinkhole eats police station :: Puffy replaces the need for the physical presence of a person :: Public school mandates teaching climate change in all school subjects k-12 :: Netherlands Is Helping Its Disabled Have Sex :: 2022-11-20 Captain Kickass, Nikki, Kahuna." (11/20/22)
https://odysee.com/@FreeTalkLive:d/2022-11-20:9b
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60) Daniel McAdams on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
"Daniel McAdams on the Poland Missile Incident and Prospects for Negotiations." (11/20/22)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/11-18-22-daniel-mcadams-on-the-poland-missile-incident-and-prospects-for-negotiations/
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