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04/22 -- Stock markets tumble as investors pull back from American assets; The woke right is real -- and it might be worse than the woke left
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Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 22, 2025, 6:32:18 AMApr 22
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/22/25
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Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Stock markets tumble as investors pull back from American assets
2) Kremlin welcomes US regime’s position that Ukraine will not be let into NATO
3) Abducted student misses son’s birth after ICE gang shot-caller denies his request to be there
4) China: Regime warns other countries against “appeasing” Trump’s tariff craziness
5) SCOTUS turns down Minnesota’s attempt to reinstate unconstitutional gun law
6) Feds threaten NYC highway money if MTA doesn’t shut down congestion pricing
7) Walgreens will pay $300 million bribe to US DOJ gang because its pharmacists did their jobs
8) Sudan’s paramilitaries kill over 30 in a fresh attack on a Darfur city, activists say
9) US CDC advisory group considers narrowing COVID vaccine recommendations
10) WY: Judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
11) NASA, SpaceX launch 32nd resupply mission to International Space Station
12) Klaus Schwab steps down as World Economic Forum chairman after 55 years, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe named interim chair
13) Venezuelan migrants seek further deportation protections after SCOTUS ruling
14) Haiti: Three killed in gang warfare
15) DC: Noem’s purse stolen with thousands of dollars in restaurant
16) Crypto casino takings top $80 billion as gamblers bypass regimes’ blocks
17) Four House Dems in El Salvador to Secure Release of Abrego Garcia
18) SCOTUS to decide if Texas woman who says mail wasn’t delivered because she is black can sue US Snail
19) Google faces off with regime in attempt to break up company in fake monopoly case
20) El Salvador: Bukele suggests hostage swap with Venezuelan regime
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The woke right is real — and it might be worse than the woke left
22) Zombie Congress: The Democracy of the Dead
23) A Terrible Solution to a Nonexistent Problem
24) The Pope Has Died, And The Palestinian People Have Lost An Important Advocate
25) A Crisis Was Ordered Long Ago
26) Trump Harvests Autocratic Powers Planted by Bush and Cheney
27) Harvard Is Learning the Price of the Dole
28) Pierre Manent’s Fruitful “Triangle”
29) The Rich Want You to Think They Pay A Lot in Taxes, But It’s a Lie
30) How Your Family Doc Became a Drug Enforcement Agent
31) Do Elite Universities Really Wish to Fight the Federal Government?
32) Is the Supreme Court Standing Up to Trump?
33) Honoring Pope Francis, Who Championed the Glorious World Around Us
34) Beyond Party Lines: How One 19th-Century Leader Chose Ideals over Loyalty
35) The Intelligence Community’s AI Revolution
36) Adam Smith vs. the Tariff State: A Timeless Case for Free Trade
37) Why it’s time to take on the administrative state
38) Trump’s Unconstitutional, Presidential War Against Yemen
39) Trump’s Cultural Revolution
40) The Hill to Die On
41) Google Faces Historic Breakup
42) No Joke: US considering nuclear power for Saudi in grand bargain
43) Quantum Vibe, 04/21/25
44) Politics as usual will not stop Trump’s unconstitutional acts
45) Environment improves as more nations prosper; the greatest polluter is poverty
46) The Inspiringly Insatiable Rage of Ansar Allah
47) Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Even Let You Drink Your Way Through these Tough Times
48) Free Stuff is Expensive
49) Interview: The Authoritarian State in Miniature
50) Ten Observations About Kyrgyzstan
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 04/21/25
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 788
53) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 04/21/25
54) Finding Freedom, 04/21/25
55) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/21/25
56) EconTalk, 04/21/25
57) TechTank, season 5, episode 18
58) Fountainhead Forum, episode 299
59) Free Talk Live, 04/20/25
60) Kosmopolitika, episode 2
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Stock markets tumble as investors pull back from American assets
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Wall Street weakened Monday as investors worldwide became more skeptical about American investments, something many economists suggest is due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and his ongoing criticism of the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 sank 2.4 per cent in another wipeout. That yanked the index 16 per cent below its record set two months ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 971 points, or 2.5 per cent, while losses for Tesla and Nvidia helped drag the Nasdaq composite down 2.6 per cent. In Canada, the main S&P/TSX composite index fell 0.76 per cent today. Perhaps more worryingly, U.S. government bonds and the value of the U.S. dollar also sank as prices retreated across U.S. markets.” (04/21/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stock-market-1.7514966
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2) Kremlin welcomes US regime’s position that Ukraine will not be let into NATO
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Russia on Monday said US statements suggesting that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the Western defence alliance Nato align with the Russian position. ‘We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine’s membership of Nato is out of the question,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. ‘And this is certainly something that gives us satisfaction and is in line with our position.’ US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg told broadcaster Fox News on Sunday that Nato membership for Ukraine ‘is off the table,’ after US President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out such a step in February.” [editor’s note: With unanimous consent of member regimes required for NATO admission, it was never “on the table” for Ukraine, and the Kremlin has always known that – TLK] (04/21/25)
https://archive.is/2PJRR
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3) Abducted student misses son’s birth after ICE gang shot-caller denies his request to be there
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Immigration authorities denied an urgent request by Mahmoud Khalil to be temporarily released from detention, under monitoring, so he could attend the birth of his first child. His wife, Noor Abdalla, delivered their son on Monday in New York. Khalil, who is being held at a remote Louisiana detention center, instead experienced part of the birth through a phone call. Khalil’s legal team wrote to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement official overseeing his detention on Sunday and informed her that his wife had gone into labor in New York that morning, emails obtained by NPR show. They asked her to grant Khalil a two-week conditional release so he could be present for the birth. … Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, was the first student protester that the Trump administration [abducted] in its crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.” (04/21/25)
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5371757/mahmoud-khalil-misses-sons-birth-after-ice-official-denies-his-request-to-be-there
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4) China: Regime warns other countries against “appeasing” Trump’s tariff craziness
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“China on Monday hit out at other countries making trade deals with the United States at Beijing’s expense, promising countermeasures against those who ‘appease’ Washington in the blistering tariff war. While [American buyers of goods from] the rest of the world ha[ve] been slapped with a blanket 10 percent tariff, [American buyers of goods from] China [face] levies of up to 145 percent on many products. Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on [Chinese buyers of] US goods. A number of countries are now engaged in negotiations with the United States to lower tariffs, parallel to Washington’s full trade war against top US economic rival China. But Beijing warned nations on Monday not to seek a deal with the United States that compromised its interests.” (04/21/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20250421-beijing-warns-of-retaliation-against-nations-who-appease-us-in-tariff-war
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5) SCOTUS turns down Minnesota’s attempt to reinstate unconstitutional gun law
Source: United Press International
“The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Minnesota Monday that would have prevented its residents ages 18 through 20 from being permitted to carry firearms in public. The court granted a writ of certiorari in regard to Worth v. Jacobson, in which case a judgment was entered in July of 2024 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. … The Eighth Circuit court had ruled a carry ban violated the Second Amendment ‘as applied to Minnesota through the Fourteenth Amendment, and, thus, is unconstitutional.’ The Supreme Court did not issue a ruling, but just rejected Minnesota’s appeal to put the carry ban law back into effect.” (04/21/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/21/Minnesota-gun-carry-law-Supreme-Court/8231745255944/
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6) Feds threaten NYC highway money if MTA doesn’t shut down congestion pricing
Source: Gothamist
“The Trump administration on Monday threatened to withhold federal funding for New York City highway projects if the MTA continues to ignore an order from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to shut down Manhattan’s congestion pricing tolls. In a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Duffy outlined a plan for the Federal Highway Administration to hold up money and regulatory approvals for some federally funded road projects in the city. Duffy wrote that his department gave New York transportation officials a May 21 deadline to either terminate the MTA’s congestion pricing program or demonstrate why it doesn’t violate a federal law prohibiting the collection of tolls on roads that receive federal subsidies.” (04/21/25)
https://gothamist.com/news/feds-threaten-nyc-highway-money-if-mta-doesnt-shut-down-congestion-pricing
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7) Walgreens will pay $300 million bribe to US DOJ gang because its pharmacists did their jobs
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Walgreens has agreed to pay $300 million to settle U.S. prosecutors’ allegations that it illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. The money, plus 4% interest annually, will be paid out over six years under the terms of the agreement. Walgreens will also owe [sic] the U.S. an additional $50 million if the company is sold, merged, or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032, the Justice Department said. Walgreens said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that the case was ‘the last anticipated major opioid regulatory matter’ and that it had settled without admitting wrongdoing ‘to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation.'” (04/21/25)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-settles-allegations-filling-invalid-160910490.html
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8) Sudan’s paramilitaries kill over 30 in a fresh attack on a Darfur city, activists say
Source: ABC News
“Sudan’s notorious paramilitary group attacked a city in the western Darfur region, killing more than 30 people, an activist group said, in the latest deadly offensive on an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias launched an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday, the Resistance Committees in the city said. Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.” (04/21/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sudans-paramilitaries-kill-30-fresh-attack-darfur-city-121015840
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9) US CDC advisory group considers narrowing COVID vaccine recommendations
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Next year’s COVID vaccine recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appear likely to be less expansive than in previous years. Notes from a recent meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ COVID-19 Work Group show health officials are considering narrowing the recommended age range for universal vaccination from everyone over 6 months to those 65 and older and people with health complications for the next respiratory virus season. A majority of the working group’s members indicated they will vote to endorse such a risk-based recommendation, rather than the current universal recommendation. Some doctors are praising the possible move, while others have reservations about the shift.” (04/21/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/21/cdc-advisory-group-considers-narrowing-covid-vaccine-recommendations/
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10) WY: Judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
Source: Seattle Times
“Wyoming’s only abortion clinic can resume providing surgical abortions after a judge on Monday suspended two state laws. District Judge Thomas Campbell issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Wellspring Health Access and others to challenge the laws. One law requires clinics providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers and the other requires women to get an ultrasound before a medication abortion. Wellspring Health Access stopped providing abortions Feb. 28, the day after Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed the licensing requirement into law. The clinic has continued to provide hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients. Gordon vetoed the requirement for an ultrasound at least 48 hours before a pill abortion, calling it onerous in cases of abuse, rape, or when a woman’s health is at risk. State lawmakers voted to override the veto March 5.” (04/21/25)
https://archive.is/4mrA1
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11) NASA, SpaceX launch 32nd resupply mission to International Space Station
Source: United Press International
“NASA launched its latest cargo run to the International Space Station early Monday morning. At 4:15 a.m. EDT, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft took off while aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The craft, known as Commercial Resupply Services 32, or CRS-32, carried approximately 6,700 pounds of cargo and scientific equipment in what was SpaceX’s 32nd commercial resupply services mission for NASA. Dragon separated from the rocket’s second stage about nine minutes after launch, then opened its nosecone and performed a series of thruster firings so that it could reach the ISS. If all continues to go normally, Dragon should arrive at the ISS Tuesday at 8:20 a.m., and then dock to the zenith, space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.” (04/21/25)
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2025/04/21/SpaceX-Dragon-Falcon-9-spacecraft/4831745233393/
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12) Klaus Schwab steps down as World Economic Forum chairman after 55 years, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe named interim chair
Source: mint [India]
“World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab decided to step down on Monday, April 21, after 55 years of service in the Geneva-based institution, according to the official release. The board of directors have appointed Peter Brabeck-Letmathe as the interim Chairman for the institution until they find a future Chairman through a selection committee process.” (04/21/25)
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/klaus-schwab-steps-down-as-world-economic-forum-chairman-after-55-years-peter-brabeck-letmathe-named-interim-chair-11745230605798.html
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13) Venezuelan migrants seek further deportation protections after SCOTUS ruling
Source: Reuters
“Venezuelan migrants will seek to bolster their protections against deportation under a wartime law this week, after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of migrants with an emergency ruling over the weekend. At a court hearing scheduled for Monday, two Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Denver, Colorado are expected to ask U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney to extend her order preventing them and other Venezuelans within her jurisdiction from being deported under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. It is the first of several similar hearings at courthouses across the country scheduled for this week as the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Venezuelan migrants, seeks to require Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to provide migrants with 30 days’ notice of their looming deportations under the law and the opportunity to challenge their removals in court.” (04/21/25)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/venezuelan-migrants-seek-further-deportation-protections-after-supreme-court-2025-04-21/
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14) Haiti: Three killed in gang warfare
Source: Associated Press
“At least three Haitian soldiers were killed in an apparent gang ambush Sunday in a town on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian [regime gang shot-callers] confirmed. The area of Kenscoff has been under heavy fire in recent days as Haitian [regime gang members] have warred with the gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm. It’s just the latest explosion of violence as Haitian authorities and foreign forces scramble to [prevail] in gang warfare in the Caribbean nation.” (04/20/25)
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-soldiers-killed-gangs-4726f516109fb3ff150f94d3e121162d
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15) DC: Noem’s purse stolen with thousands of dollars in restaurant
Source: Fox News
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen with thousands in cash on Sunday night at a restaurant in Washington D.C., multiple sources from the agency confirmed to Fox News Digital. The purse was taken by a [w]hite man wearing a mask, and the bag contained $3,000 in cash as well as personal documents including her passport, keys, driver’s license and a DHS badge, an agency spokesperson confirmed. ‘Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren – she was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,’ the spokesperson said. Crime in the capital city continues to be a major issue, including theft. When it comes to violent crime, it hit a 30-year low last year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office at the time.” [editor’s note: Not sure how wise it was to carry that much cash to dinner, but … – SAT] (04/21/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-chief-kristi-noems-purse-stolen-thousands-dollars-dc-restaurant
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16) Crypto casino takings top $80 billion as gamblers bypass regimes’ blocks
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Crypto casino takings have soared to tens of billions of dollars a year, new data shows, as gamblers bypass blocks in their home countries to bet on unregulated offshore platforms. Despite being illegal in most countries, wagers paid in cryptocurrency last year generated $81.4bn in gross gaming revenue (GGR), the difference between bets taken in and winnings paid out, according to research by anti-online-crime [sic] platform Yield Sec — a fivefold rise since 2022. … While crypto gambling sites are blocked in jurisdictions from the US and China to the EU and UK, they remain easily accessible via VPN, mirror links or URL redirection, experts, campaigners and former users told the Financial Times.” (04/21/25)
https://archive.is/HOQvG
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17) Four House Dems in El Salvador to Secure Release of Abrego Garcia
Source: Common Dreams
“Four Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives landed in the capital of El Salvador on Monday morning, kicking off a trip aimed at pressuring the Trump administration to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling and facilitate the retrieval of a man who federal officials have admitted was wrongly sent to a Salvadoran megaprison in mid-March. ‘Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported,’ said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, one of the lawmakers in El Salvador, in a Monday statement. … Garcia, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are traveling to El Salvador days after Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland traveled there and successfully met with Abrego Garcia.” (04/21/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/house-dems-el-salvador-abrego-garcia
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18) SCOTUS to decide if Texas woman who says mail wasn’t delivered because she is black can sue US Snail
Source: CNN
“The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear arguments in a case against the US Postal Service filed by a Texas woman who claims her carrier declined to deliver the mail to her rental properties because she is [b]lack. Lebene Konan, a realtor and licensed insurance agent, alleged that the post office that covers two rental properties she owns in suburban Dallas changed the lock on her post office box and then declined to deliver the mail to the property for two to three months. Konan claimed that happened because the carrier and postmaster did not ‘like the idea that a [b]lack person’ owned them.” (04/21/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/21/politics/post-office-mail-not-delivered-because-person-is-black-lawsuit/index.html
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19) Google faces off with regime in attempt to break up company in fake monopoly case
Source: SFGate
“Google is confronting an existential threat as the U.S. government tries to break up the company as punishment for [supposedly, but not even close to actually] turning its revolutionary search engine into an illegal monopoly. The drama began to unfold Monday in a Washington courtroom as three weeks of hearings kicked off to determine how the company should be penalized for operating a monopoly in search. In its opening arguments, federal antitrust enforcers also urged the court to impose forward-looking remedies to prevent Google from using artificial intelligence to further its dominance. ‘This is a moment in time, we’re at an inflection point, will we abandon the search market and surrender them to control of the monopolists or will we let competition prevail and give choice to future generations,’ said Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist.” (04/21/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/google-to-face-off-with-us-government-in-attempt-20285917.php
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20) El Salvador: Bukele suggests hostage swap with Venezuelan regime
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has proposed a [hostage] swap that would see Venezuelans deported from the United States to his country exchanged for ‘political prisoners’ in Venezuela. In pointed remarks directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday, Bukele suggested the countries reach a ‘humanitarian agreement’ amid Caracas’s demands for the repatriation of Venezuelan deportees. Bukele said he would be willing to repatriate 252 Venezuelans being held in a Salvadoran maximum security prison in exchange for ‘an identical number of the thousands of political prisoners that you hold.’ … Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab described Bukele’s proposal as ‘cynical’ and called on his government to provide a complete list of the ‘hostages’ along with ‘proof of life and a medical report’ for each detainee.” (04/21/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/21/el-salvadors-bukele-suggests-prisoner-swap-for-venezuelans-deported-by-us
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The woke right is real — and it might be worse than the woke left
Source: The Hill
by John Mac Ghlionn
“The same rhetorical contortions once used by the woke left — semantic shape-shifting, moral panic, accusations that shut down argument rather than invite it — are now being used wholesale by Trump’s own administration. The champion of free speech has become a champion of selective speech, the kind that flatters the regime and shames the rest into silence. I ask readers to imagine if Joe Biden had attempted any of this — if his administration had moved to deport pro-Israel student activists, threatened Harvard over demonstrations, or equated protest signs with hate speech. Right-wing media would have had a collective stroke. They’d be setting up tripods outside every courthouse, shrieking about Marxism, totalitarianism and the end of the First Amendment. But because it’s Trump, and because the narrative suits the agenda, the outrage evaporates.” (04/21/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/5256809-trump-suppressing-free-speech/
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22) Zombie Congress: The Democracy of the Dead
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Eddlem
“How does Congress pass budget spending levels these days? It doesn’t. It’s really that simple. The federal government’s $6.95 trillion budget will spend more than $52,000 per household in America in 2025 and it is spending more than $38,000 of that without a single vote, and passing the remaining $13,000 with a single up-or-down, ‘should-the-government-shut-down-entirely?’ vote, just like it does every year. Gen Xers grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, with ABC-TV’s School House Rock shorts during the commercials explaining to us then-youngsters how the process of passing a law worked under the U.S. Constitution. And now that I’ve got that catchy “I’m Just a Bill” tune locked impossibly in your head, here’s the bad news: that 1976 cartoon short marked the beginning of the end of that method of legislative budgeting.” (04/21/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/zombie-congress-the-democracy-of-the-dead/
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23) A Terrible Solution to a Nonexistent Problem
Source: The Olympian
by Kevin D Williamson
“What’s the actual problem Donald Trump is trying to solve with tariffs? It isn’t that the United States is being victimized by an imbalanced global tariff regime, because that isn’t happening; it isn’t that the post-Cold War liberal trading order has seen other countries romp while the United States stagnates, because that hasn’t happened, either; it isn’t ‘deindustrialization,’ which hasn’t happened in the United States, or even a radical collapse in the availability of factory work, which hasn’t happened, either. Let’s look at these supposed problems one by one.” (04/21/25)
https://www.theolympian.com/opinion/us-viewpoints/article304669741.html
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24) The Pope Has Died, And The Palestinian People Have Lost An Important Advocate
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Pope Francis has died after using his Easter Sunday address to call for peace in Gaza. I don’t know who the cardinals will pick to replace him, but I do know with absolute certainty that there are transnational intelligence operations in the works to make sure they select a more reliable supporter of Israel. They’ve probably been working on it since his health started failing. … as far as popes go this one was decent. Francis had been an influential critic of Israel’s mass atrocities in Gaza, calling for investigation of genocide allegations and denouncing the bombing of hospitals and the murder of humanitarian workers and civilians. He’d been personally calling the only Catholic parish in Gaza by phone every night during the Israeli onslaught, even as his health deteriorated.” (04/21/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/21/the-pope-has-died-and-the-palestinian-people-have-lost-an-important-advocate/
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25) A Crisis Was Ordered Long Ago
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“‘Wall Street got drunk,’ President Bush said in 2008, to which Peter Schiff replied, ‘They did. And the Fed provided the liquor!’ Schiff — who credits his understanding of markets and Austrian economics to his father’s teachings growing up — is renowned for his prediction of the Financial Crisis of 2008, years before the housing market nosedived. His position earned him the scorn and ridicule of almost every other commentator, as seen in this collection of videos, but he never blinked. The market was in trouble, not because of a lack of regulations, but because the government and the Fed were on a fiat money high.” (04/21/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/crisis-was-ordered-long-ago
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26) Trump Harvests Autocratic Powers Planted by Bush and Cheney
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“In 2003, the Macedonian police arrested Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen vacationing in their country. They handed the unfortunate man over to the CIA, who shipped him off to one of their ‘black sites.’ For those too young to remember (or who have quite understandably chosen to forget), ‘black sites’ was the name given to clandestine CIA detention centers around the world, where that agency held incommunicado and tortured men captured in what was then known as the Global War on Terror. The black site in this case was the notorious Salt Pit in Afghanistan. There el-Masri was, among other things, beaten, anally raped, and threatened with a gun held to his head. After four months he was dumped on a rural road in Albania. It seems that the CIA had finally realized that they had arrested the wrong man.” (04/20/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/trump-harvests-autocratic-powers/
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27) Harvard Is Learning the Price of the Dole
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“While left-wingers are lamenting President Trump’s threats against Harvard University to terminate or reduce its federal dole, I myself have no sympathies whatsoever for the school. In fact, I think Trump is providing a tremendous service in educating Harvard and the rest of the country of the price that is paid when one goes onto the dole. … As far as I’m concerned, Harvard’s hiring practices and its protest policies are its own business. Except for one thing, which Harvard is learning from Trump: The dole comes with control. Or to put it another way, he who pays the piper calls the tune.” (04/21/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/04/21/harvard-is-learning-the-price-of-the-dole/
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28) Pierre Manent’s Fruitful “Triangle”
Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney
“The contemporary French political philosopher Pierre Manent is widely acknowledged as a thinker of the first rank, one whose approach to the study of human affairs renews political philosophy’s original ambition to provide a truly ‘architectonic’ or comprehensive grasp of the human world. Manent’s concerns are the age-old ones of the city and the soul. He approaches them through the study of the great texts of political philosophy and political history and through a patient ‘phenomenological’ description of human motives (the useful, the pleasant, and the noble), as well as the virtues and vices of men.” (04/21/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/pierre-manents-fruitful-triangle/
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29) The Rich Want You to Think They Pay A Lot in Taxes, But It’s a Lie
Source: Inequality.org
by Bob Lord
“What is the mission of the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation? Even a quick review of the Tax Foundation’s output makes it perfectly plain: to help make average Americans see the richest among us as terribly overtaxed. … last fall, the Tax Foundation produced a study that had billionaire Warren Buffett paying taxes at a rate of over 1,000 percent. A few years back, early in the Biden years, I deconstructed another Tax Foundation claim, that the passage of tax changes the Biden White House was then pushing would leave the estate of a hypothetical taxpayer worth $100 million facing a tax rate of 61.1 percent. My response detailed the absurdity of that claim. But what if that 61.1 percent had turned out to be an appropriate calculation? Would that 61.1 percent rate have really amounted to an oppressive tax levy? The Tax Foundation sure wants people to think so.” (04/21/25)
https://inequality.org/article/oppressive-taxation-that-isnt/
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30) How Your Family Doc Became a Drug Enforcement Agent
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger McFillin
“Remember when your family doctor was actually your doctor? That quaint historical period when physicians made independent medical judgments instead of reading from pharmaceutical scripts? When they looked at you as a unique human being rather than a collection of compliance metrics needing correction? Those days are fucking gone. Today’s primary care physician is something entirely different — a pharmaceutical compliance officer with a prescription pad, a corporate protocol to follow, and overlords tracking their every move. They’ve transitioned from healers to hustlers, from medical professionals to medication pushers, from trusted advisors to glorified drug dealers with better parking.” (04/21/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-your-family-doc-became-a-drug-enforcement-agent/
-----
31) Do Elite Universities Really Wish to Fight the Federal Government?
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“Harvard has refused to accept the orders of a Trump administration commission concerning its chronic problems with anti-Semitism, campus violence, and racial tribalism, bias, and segregation. Yet, unlike some conservative campuses that distrust an overbearing Washington, Harvard and most elite schools like it want it both ways. They do as they please on their own turf and yet still demand that the taxpayers send them multibillion-dollar checks in addition to their multibillion-dollar private incomes. Aside from the issues of autonomy and free expression, there are lots of campus practices that higher education would prefer were not widely known to the public. But soon they will be, and thus will become sources of public anger. Perhaps envision elite private colleges as mossy rocks, which seem outwardly picturesque — until you turn them over and see what crawls beneath.” (04/21/25)
https://amgreatness.com/2025/04/21/do-elite-universities-really-wish-to-fight-the-federal-government/
-----
32) Is the Supreme Court Standing Up to Trump?
Source: Washington Monthly
by Garrett Epps
“One prof I know likes to answer students’ yes-or-no questions by saying something like, ‘The short answer is ‘yes’ and the long answer is ‘no.’’ Asinine as it may seem, that is often the correct answer in legal matters: rules from a distance may seem straightforward and strict, but as a lawyer or court draws closer, they dissolve into an abstract pattern of unconnected dots that no one can decipher, much less enforce. The Supreme Court has been giving this kind of answer on fraught occasions for virtually all of American history — and it has given that answer to challenges to Donald Trump’s ascent: boldly proclaiming the rule of law while noting that there may be a very particular reason why this particular rule can’t be quite, you know, enforced just so at present. Like a Magic 8 Ball, the Court may suggest we ‘Ask Again Later.'” (04/21/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/21/is-the-supreme-court-standing-up-to-trump/
-----
33) Honoring Pope Francis, Who Championed the Glorious World Around Us
Source: The Crucial Years
by Bill Mckibben
“Just in case I thought one couldn’t feel more forlorn right now, the word came this morning of the death of Pope Francis. It hit me hard, not because I’m a Catholic (I’m a Methodist) but because I had always felt buoyed by his remarkable spirit. If he could bring new hope and energy to an institution as hidebound as the Vatican, there was reason for all of us to go on working on our own hidebound institutions, and if he could stand so completely in solidarity with the world’s poor and vulnerable, then it gave the rest of us something to aim for. I thought this from the start, when he became the first pope to choose the name of Francis (that countercultural blaze of possibility in a dark time) and when he showed his mastery of the art of gesture, washing the feet of women, of prisoners, of Muslim refugees.” (04/21/25)
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/pope-francis-and-the-sun
-----
34) Beyond Party Lines: How One 19th-Century Leader Chose Ideals over Loyalty
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Justin Madura
“Carl Schurz (1829-1906) was one of many Prussian exiles who arrived in the United States following the failed revolutions of 1848. After reforms failed to materialize in Europe, Schurz became one of the German ’48ers’ who came to America to escape political persecution for his role in the unsuccessful uprisings. Schurz went on to contribute to his new homeland as a political reformer, a Union Army officer in the Civil War, a US Senator, presidential cabinet member, and commentator. He shaped a unique legacy throughout the Gilded Age as a determined classical liberal who advocated civil service reform, sound currency, low tariffs, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Many key episodes in Schurz’s life offer meaningful lessons for Americans today, but perhaps none more distinctive than his 1897 dispute with a sitting US Senator.” (04/21/25)
https://fee.org/articles/beyond-party-lines-how-one-19th-century-leader-chose-ideals-over-loyalty/
-----
35) The Intelligence Community’s AI Revolution
Source: Reason
by Kevin Frazier
“The relentless march of artificial intelligence (AI) is not confined to Studio Ghibli memes and automated email responses. It is rapidly becoming a central pillar of national security strategy. Within the labyrinthine corridors of the U.S. Intelligence Community (I.C.), which includes the military, CIA, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among other organizations, an AI transformation is underway. It’s driven by the promise of AI to collect previously indecipherable data, uncover hidden connections, and anticipate threats with unprecedented speed and scale. Yet, as the I.C. races towards an AI-infused future, profound questions about governance, ethics, privacy, and due process loom large.” (04/21/25)
https://reason.com/2025/04/21/the-intelligence-communitys-ai-revolution/
-----
36) Adam Smith vs. the Tariff State: A Timeless Case for Free Trade
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“If you maintain that over time, the United States has been the best country at exemplifying the teachings of Adam Smith, you would get no argument from me. Sadly, that imagined crown no longer fits. By one calculation, with President Trump’s new tariffs, the United States ‘is about to have the highest tariff rate of any advanced economy’ with a rate of ‘around 22 percent — up from 1.5 percent in 2022.’ Smith’s teachings on markets and human nature established the foundation for a free trade policy. It would seem the fate of humanity is to forget timeless truths, endure the consequences, and struggle to recover those truths.” (04/21/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/adam-smith-vs-the-tariff-state-a-timeless-case-for-free-trade/
-----
37) Why it’s time to take on the administrative state
Source: Fox News Forum
by Vivek Ramaswamy
“Mark Twain once quipped, ‘No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.’ In the 1800s, his wit was aimed at lawmakers — but if he were alive today, he’d likely reserve his sharpest criticism for unelected bureaucrats, who often wield more power than those we elect. Unlike legislators, these regulators don’t take recesses. They’re ‘in session’ 40 hours a week, every week, quietly issuing rules that extend into nearly every corner of American life. Most Americans are aware that federal agencies — the infamous ‘alphabet soup’ in Washington — have overstepped. But the problem is just as pervasive, and perhaps more dangerous, in all 50 state capitals. The truth is simple: in today’s America, the regulatory state isn’t solving problems — it is the problem.” (04/21/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/vivek-ramaswamy-why-its-time-take-administrative-state
-----
38) Trump’s Unconstitutional, Presidential War Against Yemen
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“For Americans who still labor under the delusion that Donald Trump is an advocate of realism and restraint in foreign policy, the events in Yemen should come as a rude awakening. Unfortunately, the most prominent indicator took a form that enabled the president’s political opponents to evade their own share of the blame for the tragic events in that country. Revelations that members of Trump’s national security team had conducted a discussion of highly classified information about war plans in Yemen over an insecure system exploded in the news media last month. … However, the dominant focus of most news stories about the episode was both revealing and depressing. Critics vehemently denounced the Trump team for an egregious inability to keep the Yemen war plans secret. Very little of the criticism from journalists or members of Congress condemned the participants in the chat for planning to wage an unconstitutional war.” (04/21/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2025/04/20/trumps-unconstitutional-presidential-war-against-yemen/
-----
39) Trump’s Cultural Revolution
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“Don’t try to sanewash what’s happening. It’s evil, but it isn’t calculated evil. That is, it’s not a considered political strategy, with a clear end goal. It’s a visceral response from people who, as Thomas Edsall puts it, are addicted to revenge. If you want a model for what’s happening to America, think of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. … The Cultural Revolution was, of course, a huge disaster for China. It inflicted vast suffering on its targets and also devastated the economy. But the Maoists didn’t care. Revenge was their priority, never mind the effects on GDP. … There is, however, one big difference between Chairman Mao in 1966 and President Trump in 2025: Trump probably — probably — doesn’t have the cards.” (04/21/25)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trumps-cultural-revolution
-----
40) The Hill to Die On
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Former Trump campaign manager and advisor Kelly Anne Conway, substituting for regular host Sean Hannity, opened the program by showing a picture she explained was ‘Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen staring affectionally into the eyes of admitted illegal [sic] immigrant and accused serial wife abuser and human trafficker with suspected gang ties, who was recently deported to his home country.’ Others claim Garcia is ‘a loving father and husband,’ who ‘has never been charged with or convicted of a crime in the United States.’ But whether adangerous criminal or an innocent, hard-working family man, Garcia’s status is hardly the issue. This is about whether our government must follow its written Constitution.” (04/21/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/21/the-hill-to-die-on/
-----
41) Google Faces Historic Breakup
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“Just a few days after being found liable of monopolizing digital advertising markets, Google will soon find out its penalty for monopolizing online search markets. On Monday, the remedy phase began of a trial that found that Google illegally muscled out competition in search by purchasing default space on devices and browsers. ‘This is the time to tell Google and all other monopolists watching (and they are watching) that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws,’ said David Dahlquist, the attorney representing the Justice Department, in opening arguments. This is the first major monopolization case in 25 years, successfully argued by Joe Biden’s Justice Department antitrust division. Now Donald Trump’s antitrust division must argue the remedy phase, where they are calling for a partial breakup of Google. The hearing before Judge Amit Mehta in D.C. district court is scheduled to last three weeks.” (04/21/25)
https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-21-google-antitrust-breakup-chrome/
-----
42) No Joke: US considering nuclear power for Saudi in grand bargain
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ivan Eland
“The Trump administration is reportedly pursuing a deal with Saudi Arabia that would be a pathway to developing a commercial nuclear power industry in the desert kingdom and maybe even lead to the enrichment of uranium on Saudi soil. U.S. pursuit of this deal should be scrapped because the United States would bear all the increased commitments, costs, and risks with very little in return.” (04/21/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/no-joke-us-considering-nuclear-power-for-saudi-in-grand-bargain/
-----
43) Quantum Vibe, 04/21/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (04/21/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2531
-----
44) Politics as usual will not stop Trump’s unconstitutional acts
Source: Orange County Register
by Patrick Eddington
“If Trump does defy at-scale federal court rulings against him (which seems increasingly likely), he will have exposed the fatal flaw in the Founders’ constitutional design, a determined autocrat with total control over federal police and a subservient Congress can defy federal courts with impunity, a situation that, left unchecked, would mark the end of the republic and trigger the creation of an American autocracy. Democratic governors with friendly state legislatures could change this political dynamic by taking two steps. First, they should sever all ties between their states’ law enforcement organizations and those at the federal level as an initial step in protecting their own institutions and inhabitants from federal repression under Trump. … Second, one or more governors with friendly state legislatures could pass a constitutional amendment that would make three critical changes to the Republic’s governing document.” (04/20/25)
https://archive.is/P4uD5
-----
45) Environment improves as more nations prosper; the greatest polluter is poverty
Source: New York Post
by Bjorn Lomborg
“As we approach Earth Day this Tuesday, it’s tempting to believe that the world is on the brink of environmental collapse. We are constantly inundated by dire predictions of climate catastrophe and warnings about the planet’s imminent destruction. But this is misleading. Rather than spiraling into panic, we should take a moment to appreciate the remarkable progress we’ve made in improving the environment, and acknowledge that a key factor is prosperity. When Earth Day was first marked 55 years ago, the world faced some grim environmental challenges. Rivers were catching fire and cities were choked with smog. Air and water pollution were rampant, especially in the industrialized West. Today, outdoor air pollution has declined dramatically in rich countries. Over the past three decades, death risk from air pollution has spectacularly declined by over 70%, while waterways have become cleaner and nations reforested.” (04/20/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/20/opinion/environment-improves-as-more-nations-prosper-the-greatest-polluter-is-poverty/
-----
46) The Inspiringly Insatiable Rage of Ansar Allah
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“He doesn’t seem to have realized it quite yet, but Donald Trump has driven directly into a brick wall in Yemen. After Benjamin Netanyahu tore up his short-lived ceasefire with Hamas and escalated his genocide in Gaza with a total blockade and Donald Trump joined him to announce his intentions to build condos on the rubble, the Houthi rebels also known as Ansar Allah announced their intentions to restart their own guerrilla blockade against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea unless the Nakba stops. … While Trump and his minions belched proudly of the ‘incredible success’ of their war crimes, hundreds of thousands of Yemeni citizens have been seen taking to the streets of Sadaa to publicly celebrate their defiance of empire.” (04/20/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-inspiringly-insatiable-rage-of.html
-----
47) Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Even Let You Drink Your Way Through these Tough Times
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jacob Grier
“Exotic cocktail ingredients are about to become pricier or disappear from the market altogether.” (04/20/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-tariffs-wont-even-let-you
-----
48) Free Stuff is Expensive
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden
“There is an endless list of ways we want to improve cities and help the poor. The list of problems plaguing poor communities is long. Every major US city has areas where the schools are terrible, crime is rampant, the sidewalks and streets are little more than rubble, fresh food is in short supply, and there are no parks or playgrounds to speak of. Helping people in this lowly state should be simple. Make the schools better. Hire more cops. Spread some concrete and asphalt. Start a farmer’s market. Build a playground. Simple, right? Not really. Amenities are expensive even when you don’t have to pay for them directly. Why? They make places nicer and, therefore, more attractive places to live.” (04/20/25)
https://www.econlib.org/free-stuff-is-expensive/
-----
49) Interview: The Authoritarian State in Miniature
Source: In These Times
by Shane Burley
“Not all coups change a country in an instant. Some are a slow-boil process of subversion that nonetheless leaves the institutions they affect unrecognizable. Journalist Talia Lavin has spent her career looking at the violent and bigoted politics of the United States’ rightward turn, and, as she chronicles in her recent book, Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America, the Christian nationalist movement currently remaking U.S. society was one such long revolution. From the Christian Right’s early mobilization in the 1970s, as they fought desegregation by embracing private schools and homeschooling, to the culture wars seeking to undo myriad progressive reforms, Lavin finds that most of the movement’s political projects emerged from an authoritarian evangelical culture centered in the home.” (04/21/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/author-interview-talia-lavin-christian-nationalism-authoritarianism
-----
50) Ten Observations About Kyrgyzstan
Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn
“I first came to Bishkek as a college student trying to learn Russian and returned a few years later to report on an insurrection against the president. I don’t think I ever expected to actually live in Kyrgyzstan, but … life is funny sometimes, and for the past year and a half I’ve been living in Bishkek, teaching journalism and public relations at an international university. As a perk of being here, I get the opportunity to throw my kalpak into the ring with Yascha Mounk and Quico Toro in Persuasion’s ‘Observations About …’ series.” (04/20/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/10-observations-about-kyrgyzstan
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable
Source: Reason
"Why Due Process Matters." (04/21/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/04/21/why-due-process-matters/
-----
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 788
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Sends Plane Loads of Bunker-Busting Bombs to Israel.” (04/21/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-788-trump-sends-plane-loads-of-bunker-busting-bombs-to-israel
-----
53) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 04/21/25
Source: Show-Me Institute
“A New Voice for Accountability, and School Choice in Missouri with Cory Koedel.” (04/21/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/a-new-voice-for-accountability-and-school-choice-in-missouri-with-cory-koedel/
-----
54) Finding Freedom, 04/21/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“The Fractional Work Revolution with Cory Hanscom.” (04/21/25)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fractional-work-revolution-with-cory-hanscom/id1602918224?i=1000704314225
-----
55) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/21/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Ugly New Eruptions over Abrego Garcia Wreck His Own Arguments.” (04/21/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/194171/trump-ugly-new-eruptions-abrego-garcia-wreck-arguments
-----
56) EconTalk, 04/21/25
Source: EconTalk
“Why Christianity Needs to Help Save Democracy (with Jonathan Rauch).” (04/21/25)
-----
57) TechTank, season 5, episode 18
Source: Brookings Institution
“How DOGE is Using AI in Government.” (04/21/25)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/how-doge-is-using-ai-in-government
-----
58) Fountainhead Forum, episode 299
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Michael Huemer on philosophy and the liberty movement in 2020.” (04/21/25)
https://rumble.com/v6sdabr-ff-299-michael-huemer-on-philosophy-and-the-liberty-movement-in-2020.html
-----
59) Free Talk Live, 04/20/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Time travel theories :: Covid theories :: Global entanglement :: Traveling back in time to talk about time travel :: The cost of freedom :: Race wars are a spook, stop being manipulated :: Enron :: 2025-04-20 :: Hosts: Lori, Mark, Rich E. Rich.” (04/20/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2025-04-20
-----
60) Kosmopolitika, episode 2
Source: Nonzero
“Where Do We Belong? | Call-in Show w/ Nikita Petrov & Boris Shoshitaishvili.” (04/20/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6SP9fxKx4I
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Stock markets tumble as investors pull back from American assets
2) Kremlin welcomes US regime’s position that Ukraine will not be let into NATO
3) Abducted student misses son’s birth after ICE gang shot-caller denies his request to be there
4) China: Regime warns other countries against “appeasing” Trump’s tariff craziness
5) SCOTUS turns down Minnesota’s attempt to reinstate unconstitutional gun law
6) Feds threaten NYC highway money if MTA doesn’t shut down congestion pricing
7) Walgreens will pay $300 million bribe to US DOJ gang because its pharmacists did their jobs
8) Sudan’s paramilitaries kill over 30 in a fresh attack on a Darfur city, activists say
9) US CDC advisory group considers narrowing COVID vaccine recommendations
10) WY: Judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
11) NASA, SpaceX launch 32nd resupply mission to International Space Station
12) Klaus Schwab steps down as World Economic Forum chairman after 55 years, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe named interim chair
13) Venezuelan migrants seek further deportation protections after SCOTUS ruling
14) Haiti: Three killed in gang warfare
15) DC: Noem’s purse stolen with thousands of dollars in restaurant
16) Crypto casino takings top $80 billion as gamblers bypass regimes’ blocks
17) Four House Dems in El Salvador to Secure Release of Abrego Garcia
18) SCOTUS to decide if Texas woman who says mail wasn’t delivered because she is black can sue US Snail
19) Google faces off with regime in attempt to break up company in fake monopoly case
20) El Salvador: Bukele suggests hostage swap with Venezuelan regime
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The woke right is real — and it might be worse than the woke left
22) Zombie Congress: The Democracy of the Dead
23) A Terrible Solution to a Nonexistent Problem
24) The Pope Has Died, And The Palestinian People Have Lost An Important Advocate
25) A Crisis Was Ordered Long Ago
26) Trump Harvests Autocratic Powers Planted by Bush and Cheney
27) Harvard Is Learning the Price of the Dole
28) Pierre Manent’s Fruitful “Triangle”
29) The Rich Want You to Think They Pay A Lot in Taxes, But It’s a Lie
30) How Your Family Doc Became a Drug Enforcement Agent
31) Do Elite Universities Really Wish to Fight the Federal Government?
32) Is the Supreme Court Standing Up to Trump?
33) Honoring Pope Francis, Who Championed the Glorious World Around Us
34) Beyond Party Lines: How One 19th-Century Leader Chose Ideals over Loyalty
35) The Intelligence Community’s AI Revolution
36) Adam Smith vs. the Tariff State: A Timeless Case for Free Trade
37) Why it’s time to take on the administrative state
38) Trump’s Unconstitutional, Presidential War Against Yemen
39) Trump’s Cultural Revolution
40) The Hill to Die On
41) Google Faces Historic Breakup
42) No Joke: US considering nuclear power for Saudi in grand bargain
43) Quantum Vibe, 04/21/25
44) Politics as usual will not stop Trump’s unconstitutional acts
45) Environment improves as more nations prosper; the greatest polluter is poverty
46) The Inspiringly Insatiable Rage of Ansar Allah
47) Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Even Let You Drink Your Way Through these Tough Times
48) Free Stuff is Expensive
49) Interview: The Authoritarian State in Miniature
50) Ten Observations About Kyrgyzstan
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 04/21/25
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 788
53) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 04/21/25
54) Finding Freedom, 04/21/25
55) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/21/25
56) EconTalk, 04/21/25
57) TechTank, season 5, episode 18
58) Fountainhead Forum, episode 299
59) Free Talk Live, 04/20/25
60) Kosmopolitika, episode 2
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Stock markets tumble as investors pull back from American assets
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Wall Street weakened Monday as investors worldwide became more skeptical about American investments, something many economists suggest is due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and his ongoing criticism of the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 sank 2.4 per cent in another wipeout. That yanked the index 16 per cent below its record set two months ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 971 points, or 2.5 per cent, while losses for Tesla and Nvidia helped drag the Nasdaq composite down 2.6 per cent. In Canada, the main S&P/TSX composite index fell 0.76 per cent today. Perhaps more worryingly, U.S. government bonds and the value of the U.S. dollar also sank as prices retreated across U.S. markets.” (04/21/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stock-market-1.7514966
-----
2) Kremlin welcomes US regime’s position that Ukraine will not be let into NATO
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Russia on Monday said US statements suggesting that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the Western defence alliance Nato align with the Russian position. ‘We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine’s membership of Nato is out of the question,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. ‘And this is certainly something that gives us satisfaction and is in line with our position.’ US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg told broadcaster Fox News on Sunday that Nato membership for Ukraine ‘is off the table,’ after US President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out such a step in February.” [editor’s note: With unanimous consent of member regimes required for NATO admission, it was never “on the table” for Ukraine, and the Kremlin has always known that – TLK] (04/21/25)
https://archive.is/2PJRR
-----
3) Abducted student misses son’s birth after ICE gang shot-caller denies his request to be there
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Immigration authorities denied an urgent request by Mahmoud Khalil to be temporarily released from detention, under monitoring, so he could attend the birth of his first child. His wife, Noor Abdalla, delivered their son on Monday in New York. Khalil, who is being held at a remote Louisiana detention center, instead experienced part of the birth through a phone call. Khalil’s legal team wrote to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement official overseeing his detention on Sunday and informed her that his wife had gone into labor in New York that morning, emails obtained by NPR show. They asked her to grant Khalil a two-week conditional release so he could be present for the birth. … Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, was the first student protester that the Trump administration [abducted] in its crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.” (04/21/25)
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5371757/mahmoud-khalil-misses-sons-birth-after-ice-official-denies-his-request-to-be-there
-----
4) China: Regime warns other countries against “appeasing” Trump’s tariff craziness
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“China on Monday hit out at other countries making trade deals with the United States at Beijing’s expense, promising countermeasures against those who ‘appease’ Washington in the blistering tariff war. While [American buyers of goods from] the rest of the world ha[ve] been slapped with a blanket 10 percent tariff, [American buyers of goods from] China [face] levies of up to 145 percent on many products. Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on [Chinese buyers of] US goods. A number of countries are now engaged in negotiations with the United States to lower tariffs, parallel to Washington’s full trade war against top US economic rival China. But Beijing warned nations on Monday not to seek a deal with the United States that compromised its interests.” (04/21/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20250421-beijing-warns-of-retaliation-against-nations-who-appease-us-in-tariff-war
-----
5) SCOTUS turns down Minnesota’s attempt to reinstate unconstitutional gun law
Source: United Press International
“The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Minnesota Monday that would have prevented its residents ages 18 through 20 from being permitted to carry firearms in public. The court granted a writ of certiorari in regard to Worth v. Jacobson, in which case a judgment was entered in July of 2024 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. … The Eighth Circuit court had ruled a carry ban violated the Second Amendment ‘as applied to Minnesota through the Fourteenth Amendment, and, thus, is unconstitutional.’ The Supreme Court did not issue a ruling, but just rejected Minnesota’s appeal to put the carry ban law back into effect.” (04/21/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/21/Minnesota-gun-carry-law-Supreme-Court/8231745255944/
-----
6) Feds threaten NYC highway money if MTA doesn’t shut down congestion pricing
Source: Gothamist
“The Trump administration on Monday threatened to withhold federal funding for New York City highway projects if the MTA continues to ignore an order from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to shut down Manhattan’s congestion pricing tolls. In a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Duffy outlined a plan for the Federal Highway Administration to hold up money and regulatory approvals for some federally funded road projects in the city. Duffy wrote that his department gave New York transportation officials a May 21 deadline to either terminate the MTA’s congestion pricing program or demonstrate why it doesn’t violate a federal law prohibiting the collection of tolls on roads that receive federal subsidies.” (04/21/25)
https://gothamist.com/news/feds-threaten-nyc-highway-money-if-mta-doesnt-shut-down-congestion-pricing
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7) Walgreens will pay $300 million bribe to US DOJ gang because its pharmacists did their jobs
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Walgreens has agreed to pay $300 million to settle U.S. prosecutors’ allegations that it illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. The money, plus 4% interest annually, will be paid out over six years under the terms of the agreement. Walgreens will also owe [sic] the U.S. an additional $50 million if the company is sold, merged, or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032, the Justice Department said. Walgreens said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that the case was ‘the last anticipated major opioid regulatory matter’ and that it had settled without admitting wrongdoing ‘to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation.'” (04/21/25)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-settles-allegations-filling-invalid-160910490.html
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8) Sudan’s paramilitaries kill over 30 in a fresh attack on a Darfur city, activists say
Source: ABC News
“Sudan’s notorious paramilitary group attacked a city in the western Darfur region, killing more than 30 people, an activist group said, in the latest deadly offensive on an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias launched an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday, the Resistance Committees in the city said. Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.” (04/21/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sudans-paramilitaries-kill-30-fresh-attack-darfur-city-121015840
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9) US CDC advisory group considers narrowing COVID vaccine recommendations
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Next year’s COVID vaccine recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appear likely to be less expansive than in previous years. Notes from a recent meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ COVID-19 Work Group show health officials are considering narrowing the recommended age range for universal vaccination from everyone over 6 months to those 65 and older and people with health complications for the next respiratory virus season. A majority of the working group’s members indicated they will vote to endorse such a risk-based recommendation, rather than the current universal recommendation. Some doctors are praising the possible move, while others have reservations about the shift.” (04/21/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/21/cdc-advisory-group-considers-narrowing-covid-vaccine-recommendations/
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10) WY: Judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
Source: Seattle Times
“Wyoming’s only abortion clinic can resume providing surgical abortions after a judge on Monday suspended two state laws. District Judge Thomas Campbell issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Wellspring Health Access and others to challenge the laws. One law requires clinics providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers and the other requires women to get an ultrasound before a medication abortion. Wellspring Health Access stopped providing abortions Feb. 28, the day after Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed the licensing requirement into law. The clinic has continued to provide hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients. Gordon vetoed the requirement for an ultrasound at least 48 hours before a pill abortion, calling it onerous in cases of abuse, rape, or when a woman’s health is at risk. State lawmakers voted to override the veto March 5.” (04/21/25)
https://archive.is/4mrA1
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11) NASA, SpaceX launch 32nd resupply mission to International Space Station
Source: United Press International
“NASA launched its latest cargo run to the International Space Station early Monday morning. At 4:15 a.m. EDT, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft took off while aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The craft, known as Commercial Resupply Services 32, or CRS-32, carried approximately 6,700 pounds of cargo and scientific equipment in what was SpaceX’s 32nd commercial resupply services mission for NASA. Dragon separated from the rocket’s second stage about nine minutes after launch, then opened its nosecone and performed a series of thruster firings so that it could reach the ISS. If all continues to go normally, Dragon should arrive at the ISS Tuesday at 8:20 a.m., and then dock to the zenith, space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.” (04/21/25)
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2025/04/21/SpaceX-Dragon-Falcon-9-spacecraft/4831745233393/
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12) Klaus Schwab steps down as World Economic Forum chairman after 55 years, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe named interim chair
Source: mint [India]
“World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab decided to step down on Monday, April 21, after 55 years of service in the Geneva-based institution, according to the official release. The board of directors have appointed Peter Brabeck-Letmathe as the interim Chairman for the institution until they find a future Chairman through a selection committee process.” (04/21/25)
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/klaus-schwab-steps-down-as-world-economic-forum-chairman-after-55-years-peter-brabeck-letmathe-named-interim-chair-11745230605798.html
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13) Venezuelan migrants seek further deportation protections after SCOTUS ruling
Source: Reuters
“Venezuelan migrants will seek to bolster their protections against deportation under a wartime law this week, after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of migrants with an emergency ruling over the weekend. At a court hearing scheduled for Monday, two Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Denver, Colorado are expected to ask U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney to extend her order preventing them and other Venezuelans within her jurisdiction from being deported under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. It is the first of several similar hearings at courthouses across the country scheduled for this week as the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Venezuelan migrants, seeks to require Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to provide migrants with 30 days’ notice of their looming deportations under the law and the opportunity to challenge their removals in court.” (04/21/25)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/venezuelan-migrants-seek-further-deportation-protections-after-supreme-court-2025-04-21/
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14) Haiti: Three killed in gang warfare
Source: Associated Press
“At least three Haitian soldiers were killed in an apparent gang ambush Sunday in a town on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian [regime gang shot-callers] confirmed. The area of Kenscoff has been under heavy fire in recent days as Haitian [regime gang members] have warred with the gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm. It’s just the latest explosion of violence as Haitian authorities and foreign forces scramble to [prevail] in gang warfare in the Caribbean nation.” (04/20/25)
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-soldiers-killed-gangs-4726f516109fb3ff150f94d3e121162d
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15) DC: Noem’s purse stolen with thousands of dollars in restaurant
Source: Fox News
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen with thousands in cash on Sunday night at a restaurant in Washington D.C., multiple sources from the agency confirmed to Fox News Digital. The purse was taken by a [w]hite man wearing a mask, and the bag contained $3,000 in cash as well as personal documents including her passport, keys, driver’s license and a DHS badge, an agency spokesperson confirmed. ‘Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren – she was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,’ the spokesperson said. Crime in the capital city continues to be a major issue, including theft. When it comes to violent crime, it hit a 30-year low last year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office at the time.” [editor’s note: Not sure how wise it was to carry that much cash to dinner, but … – SAT] (04/21/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-chief-kristi-noems-purse-stolen-thousands-dollars-dc-restaurant
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16) Crypto casino takings top $80 billion as gamblers bypass regimes’ blocks
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Crypto casino takings have soared to tens of billions of dollars a year, new data shows, as gamblers bypass blocks in their home countries to bet on unregulated offshore platforms. Despite being illegal in most countries, wagers paid in cryptocurrency last year generated $81.4bn in gross gaming revenue (GGR), the difference between bets taken in and winnings paid out, according to research by anti-online-crime [sic] platform Yield Sec — a fivefold rise since 2022. … While crypto gambling sites are blocked in jurisdictions from the US and China to the EU and UK, they remain easily accessible via VPN, mirror links or URL redirection, experts, campaigners and former users told the Financial Times.” (04/21/25)
https://archive.is/HOQvG
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17) Four House Dems in El Salvador to Secure Release of Abrego Garcia
Source: Common Dreams
“Four Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives landed in the capital of El Salvador on Monday morning, kicking off a trip aimed at pressuring the Trump administration to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling and facilitate the retrieval of a man who federal officials have admitted was wrongly sent to a Salvadoran megaprison in mid-March. ‘Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported,’ said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, one of the lawmakers in El Salvador, in a Monday statement. … Garcia, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are traveling to El Salvador days after Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland traveled there and successfully met with Abrego Garcia.” (04/21/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/house-dems-el-salvador-abrego-garcia
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18) SCOTUS to decide if Texas woman who says mail wasn’t delivered because she is black can sue US Snail
Source: CNN
“The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear arguments in a case against the US Postal Service filed by a Texas woman who claims her carrier declined to deliver the mail to her rental properties because she is [b]lack. Lebene Konan, a realtor and licensed insurance agent, alleged that the post office that covers two rental properties she owns in suburban Dallas changed the lock on her post office box and then declined to deliver the mail to the property for two to three months. Konan claimed that happened because the carrier and postmaster did not ‘like the idea that a [b]lack person’ owned them.” (04/21/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/21/politics/post-office-mail-not-delivered-because-person-is-black-lawsuit/index.html
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19) Google faces off with regime in attempt to break up company in fake monopoly case
Source: SFGate
“Google is confronting an existential threat as the U.S. government tries to break up the company as punishment for [supposedly, but not even close to actually] turning its revolutionary search engine into an illegal monopoly. The drama began to unfold Monday in a Washington courtroom as three weeks of hearings kicked off to determine how the company should be penalized for operating a monopoly in search. In its opening arguments, federal antitrust enforcers also urged the court to impose forward-looking remedies to prevent Google from using artificial intelligence to further its dominance. ‘This is a moment in time, we’re at an inflection point, will we abandon the search market and surrender them to control of the monopolists or will we let competition prevail and give choice to future generations,’ said Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist.” (04/21/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/google-to-face-off-with-us-government-in-attempt-20285917.php
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20) El Salvador: Bukele suggests hostage swap with Venezuelan regime
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has proposed a [hostage] swap that would see Venezuelans deported from the United States to his country exchanged for ‘political prisoners’ in Venezuela. In pointed remarks directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday, Bukele suggested the countries reach a ‘humanitarian agreement’ amid Caracas’s demands for the repatriation of Venezuelan deportees. Bukele said he would be willing to repatriate 252 Venezuelans being held in a Salvadoran maximum security prison in exchange for ‘an identical number of the thousands of political prisoners that you hold.’ … Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab described Bukele’s proposal as ‘cynical’ and called on his government to provide a complete list of the ‘hostages’ along with ‘proof of life and a medical report’ for each detainee.” (04/21/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/21/el-salvadors-bukele-suggests-prisoner-swap-for-venezuelans-deported-by-us
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The woke right is real — and it might be worse than the woke left
Source: The Hill
by John Mac Ghlionn
“The same rhetorical contortions once used by the woke left — semantic shape-shifting, moral panic, accusations that shut down argument rather than invite it — are now being used wholesale by Trump’s own administration. The champion of free speech has become a champion of selective speech, the kind that flatters the regime and shames the rest into silence. I ask readers to imagine if Joe Biden had attempted any of this — if his administration had moved to deport pro-Israel student activists, threatened Harvard over demonstrations, or equated protest signs with hate speech. Right-wing media would have had a collective stroke. They’d be setting up tripods outside every courthouse, shrieking about Marxism, totalitarianism and the end of the First Amendment. But because it’s Trump, and because the narrative suits the agenda, the outrage evaporates.” (04/21/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/5256809-trump-suppressing-free-speech/
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22) Zombie Congress: The Democracy of the Dead
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Eddlem
“How does Congress pass budget spending levels these days? It doesn’t. It’s really that simple. The federal government’s $6.95 trillion budget will spend more than $52,000 per household in America in 2025 and it is spending more than $38,000 of that without a single vote, and passing the remaining $13,000 with a single up-or-down, ‘should-the-government-shut-down-entirely?’ vote, just like it does every year. Gen Xers grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, with ABC-TV’s School House Rock shorts during the commercials explaining to us then-youngsters how the process of passing a law worked under the U.S. Constitution. And now that I’ve got that catchy “I’m Just a Bill” tune locked impossibly in your head, here’s the bad news: that 1976 cartoon short marked the beginning of the end of that method of legislative budgeting.” (04/21/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/zombie-congress-the-democracy-of-the-dead/
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23) A Terrible Solution to a Nonexistent Problem
Source: The Olympian
by Kevin D Williamson
“What’s the actual problem Donald Trump is trying to solve with tariffs? It isn’t that the United States is being victimized by an imbalanced global tariff regime, because that isn’t happening; it isn’t that the post-Cold War liberal trading order has seen other countries romp while the United States stagnates, because that hasn’t happened, either; it isn’t ‘deindustrialization,’ which hasn’t happened in the United States, or even a radical collapse in the availability of factory work, which hasn’t happened, either. Let’s look at these supposed problems one by one.” (04/21/25)
https://www.theolympian.com/opinion/us-viewpoints/article304669741.html
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24) The Pope Has Died, And The Palestinian People Have Lost An Important Advocate
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Pope Francis has died after using his Easter Sunday address to call for peace in Gaza. I don’t know who the cardinals will pick to replace him, but I do know with absolute certainty that there are transnational intelligence operations in the works to make sure they select a more reliable supporter of Israel. They’ve probably been working on it since his health started failing. … as far as popes go this one was decent. Francis had been an influential critic of Israel’s mass atrocities in Gaza, calling for investigation of genocide allegations and denouncing the bombing of hospitals and the murder of humanitarian workers and civilians. He’d been personally calling the only Catholic parish in Gaza by phone every night during the Israeli onslaught, even as his health deteriorated.” (04/21/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/21/the-pope-has-died-and-the-palestinian-people-have-lost-an-important-advocate/
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25) A Crisis Was Ordered Long Ago
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“‘Wall Street got drunk,’ President Bush said in 2008, to which Peter Schiff replied, ‘They did. And the Fed provided the liquor!’ Schiff — who credits his understanding of markets and Austrian economics to his father’s teachings growing up — is renowned for his prediction of the Financial Crisis of 2008, years before the housing market nosedived. His position earned him the scorn and ridicule of almost every other commentator, as seen in this collection of videos, but he never blinked. The market was in trouble, not because of a lack of regulations, but because the government and the Fed were on a fiat money high.” (04/21/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/crisis-was-ordered-long-ago
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26) Trump Harvests Autocratic Powers Planted by Bush and Cheney
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“In 2003, the Macedonian police arrested Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen vacationing in their country. They handed the unfortunate man over to the CIA, who shipped him off to one of their ‘black sites.’ For those too young to remember (or who have quite understandably chosen to forget), ‘black sites’ was the name given to clandestine CIA detention centers around the world, where that agency held incommunicado and tortured men captured in what was then known as the Global War on Terror. The black site in this case was the notorious Salt Pit in Afghanistan. There el-Masri was, among other things, beaten, anally raped, and threatened with a gun held to his head. After four months he was dumped on a rural road in Albania. It seems that the CIA had finally realized that they had arrested the wrong man.” (04/20/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/trump-harvests-autocratic-powers/
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27) Harvard Is Learning the Price of the Dole
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“While left-wingers are lamenting President Trump’s threats against Harvard University to terminate or reduce its federal dole, I myself have no sympathies whatsoever for the school. In fact, I think Trump is providing a tremendous service in educating Harvard and the rest of the country of the price that is paid when one goes onto the dole. … As far as I’m concerned, Harvard’s hiring practices and its protest policies are its own business. Except for one thing, which Harvard is learning from Trump: The dole comes with control. Or to put it another way, he who pays the piper calls the tune.” (04/21/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/04/21/harvard-is-learning-the-price-of-the-dole/
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28) Pierre Manent’s Fruitful “Triangle”
Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney
“The contemporary French political philosopher Pierre Manent is widely acknowledged as a thinker of the first rank, one whose approach to the study of human affairs renews political philosophy’s original ambition to provide a truly ‘architectonic’ or comprehensive grasp of the human world. Manent’s concerns are the age-old ones of the city and the soul. He approaches them through the study of the great texts of political philosophy and political history and through a patient ‘phenomenological’ description of human motives (the useful, the pleasant, and the noble), as well as the virtues and vices of men.” (04/21/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/pierre-manents-fruitful-triangle/
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29) The Rich Want You to Think They Pay A Lot in Taxes, But It’s a Lie
Source: Inequality.org
by Bob Lord
“What is the mission of the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation? Even a quick review of the Tax Foundation’s output makes it perfectly plain: to help make average Americans see the richest among us as terribly overtaxed. … last fall, the Tax Foundation produced a study that had billionaire Warren Buffett paying taxes at a rate of over 1,000 percent. A few years back, early in the Biden years, I deconstructed another Tax Foundation claim, that the passage of tax changes the Biden White House was then pushing would leave the estate of a hypothetical taxpayer worth $100 million facing a tax rate of 61.1 percent. My response detailed the absurdity of that claim. But what if that 61.1 percent had turned out to be an appropriate calculation? Would that 61.1 percent rate have really amounted to an oppressive tax levy? The Tax Foundation sure wants people to think so.” (04/21/25)
https://inequality.org/article/oppressive-taxation-that-isnt/
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30) How Your Family Doc Became a Drug Enforcement Agent
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger McFillin
“Remember when your family doctor was actually your doctor? That quaint historical period when physicians made independent medical judgments instead of reading from pharmaceutical scripts? When they looked at you as a unique human being rather than a collection of compliance metrics needing correction? Those days are fucking gone. Today’s primary care physician is something entirely different — a pharmaceutical compliance officer with a prescription pad, a corporate protocol to follow, and overlords tracking their every move. They’ve transitioned from healers to hustlers, from medical professionals to medication pushers, from trusted advisors to glorified drug dealers with better parking.” (04/21/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-your-family-doc-became-a-drug-enforcement-agent/
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31) Do Elite Universities Really Wish to Fight the Federal Government?
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“Harvard has refused to accept the orders of a Trump administration commission concerning its chronic problems with anti-Semitism, campus violence, and racial tribalism, bias, and segregation. Yet, unlike some conservative campuses that distrust an overbearing Washington, Harvard and most elite schools like it want it both ways. They do as they please on their own turf and yet still demand that the taxpayers send them multibillion-dollar checks in addition to their multibillion-dollar private incomes. Aside from the issues of autonomy and free expression, there are lots of campus practices that higher education would prefer were not widely known to the public. But soon they will be, and thus will become sources of public anger. Perhaps envision elite private colleges as mossy rocks, which seem outwardly picturesque — until you turn them over and see what crawls beneath.” (04/21/25)
https://amgreatness.com/2025/04/21/do-elite-universities-really-wish-to-fight-the-federal-government/
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32) Is the Supreme Court Standing Up to Trump?
Source: Washington Monthly
by Garrett Epps
“One prof I know likes to answer students’ yes-or-no questions by saying something like, ‘The short answer is ‘yes’ and the long answer is ‘no.’’ Asinine as it may seem, that is often the correct answer in legal matters: rules from a distance may seem straightforward and strict, but as a lawyer or court draws closer, they dissolve into an abstract pattern of unconnected dots that no one can decipher, much less enforce. The Supreme Court has been giving this kind of answer on fraught occasions for virtually all of American history — and it has given that answer to challenges to Donald Trump’s ascent: boldly proclaiming the rule of law while noting that there may be a very particular reason why this particular rule can’t be quite, you know, enforced just so at present. Like a Magic 8 Ball, the Court may suggest we ‘Ask Again Later.'” (04/21/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/21/is-the-supreme-court-standing-up-to-trump/
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33) Honoring Pope Francis, Who Championed the Glorious World Around Us
Source: The Crucial Years
by Bill Mckibben
“Just in case I thought one couldn’t feel more forlorn right now, the word came this morning of the death of Pope Francis. It hit me hard, not because I’m a Catholic (I’m a Methodist) but because I had always felt buoyed by his remarkable spirit. If he could bring new hope and energy to an institution as hidebound as the Vatican, there was reason for all of us to go on working on our own hidebound institutions, and if he could stand so completely in solidarity with the world’s poor and vulnerable, then it gave the rest of us something to aim for. I thought this from the start, when he became the first pope to choose the name of Francis (that countercultural blaze of possibility in a dark time) and when he showed his mastery of the art of gesture, washing the feet of women, of prisoners, of Muslim refugees.” (04/21/25)
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/pope-francis-and-the-sun
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34) Beyond Party Lines: How One 19th-Century Leader Chose Ideals over Loyalty
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Justin Madura
“Carl Schurz (1829-1906) was one of many Prussian exiles who arrived in the United States following the failed revolutions of 1848. After reforms failed to materialize in Europe, Schurz became one of the German ’48ers’ who came to America to escape political persecution for his role in the unsuccessful uprisings. Schurz went on to contribute to his new homeland as a political reformer, a Union Army officer in the Civil War, a US Senator, presidential cabinet member, and commentator. He shaped a unique legacy throughout the Gilded Age as a determined classical liberal who advocated civil service reform, sound currency, low tariffs, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Many key episodes in Schurz’s life offer meaningful lessons for Americans today, but perhaps none more distinctive than his 1897 dispute with a sitting US Senator.” (04/21/25)
https://fee.org/articles/beyond-party-lines-how-one-19th-century-leader-chose-ideals-over-loyalty/
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35) The Intelligence Community’s AI Revolution
Source: Reason
by Kevin Frazier
“The relentless march of artificial intelligence (AI) is not confined to Studio Ghibli memes and automated email responses. It is rapidly becoming a central pillar of national security strategy. Within the labyrinthine corridors of the U.S. Intelligence Community (I.C.), which includes the military, CIA, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among other organizations, an AI transformation is underway. It’s driven by the promise of AI to collect previously indecipherable data, uncover hidden connections, and anticipate threats with unprecedented speed and scale. Yet, as the I.C. races towards an AI-infused future, profound questions about governance, ethics, privacy, and due process loom large.” (04/21/25)
https://reason.com/2025/04/21/the-intelligence-communitys-ai-revolution/
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36) Adam Smith vs. the Tariff State: A Timeless Case for Free Trade
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“If you maintain that over time, the United States has been the best country at exemplifying the teachings of Adam Smith, you would get no argument from me. Sadly, that imagined crown no longer fits. By one calculation, with President Trump’s new tariffs, the United States ‘is about to have the highest tariff rate of any advanced economy’ with a rate of ‘around 22 percent — up from 1.5 percent in 2022.’ Smith’s teachings on markets and human nature established the foundation for a free trade policy. It would seem the fate of humanity is to forget timeless truths, endure the consequences, and struggle to recover those truths.” (04/21/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/adam-smith-vs-the-tariff-state-a-timeless-case-for-free-trade/
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37) Why it’s time to take on the administrative state
Source: Fox News Forum
by Vivek Ramaswamy
“Mark Twain once quipped, ‘No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.’ In the 1800s, his wit was aimed at lawmakers — but if he were alive today, he’d likely reserve his sharpest criticism for unelected bureaucrats, who often wield more power than those we elect. Unlike legislators, these regulators don’t take recesses. They’re ‘in session’ 40 hours a week, every week, quietly issuing rules that extend into nearly every corner of American life. Most Americans are aware that federal agencies — the infamous ‘alphabet soup’ in Washington — have overstepped. But the problem is just as pervasive, and perhaps more dangerous, in all 50 state capitals. The truth is simple: in today’s America, the regulatory state isn’t solving problems — it is the problem.” (04/21/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/vivek-ramaswamy-why-its-time-take-administrative-state
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38) Trump’s Unconstitutional, Presidential War Against Yemen
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“For Americans who still labor under the delusion that Donald Trump is an advocate of realism and restraint in foreign policy, the events in Yemen should come as a rude awakening. Unfortunately, the most prominent indicator took a form that enabled the president’s political opponents to evade their own share of the blame for the tragic events in that country. Revelations that members of Trump’s national security team had conducted a discussion of highly classified information about war plans in Yemen over an insecure system exploded in the news media last month. … However, the dominant focus of most news stories about the episode was both revealing and depressing. Critics vehemently denounced the Trump team for an egregious inability to keep the Yemen war plans secret. Very little of the criticism from journalists or members of Congress condemned the participants in the chat for planning to wage an unconstitutional war.” (04/21/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2025/04/20/trumps-unconstitutional-presidential-war-against-yemen/
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39) Trump’s Cultural Revolution
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“Don’t try to sanewash what’s happening. It’s evil, but it isn’t calculated evil. That is, it’s not a considered political strategy, with a clear end goal. It’s a visceral response from people who, as Thomas Edsall puts it, are addicted to revenge. If you want a model for what’s happening to America, think of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. … The Cultural Revolution was, of course, a huge disaster for China. It inflicted vast suffering on its targets and also devastated the economy. But the Maoists didn’t care. Revenge was their priority, never mind the effects on GDP. … There is, however, one big difference between Chairman Mao in 1966 and President Trump in 2025: Trump probably — probably — doesn’t have the cards.” (04/21/25)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trumps-cultural-revolution
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40) The Hill to Die On
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Former Trump campaign manager and advisor Kelly Anne Conway, substituting for regular host Sean Hannity, opened the program by showing a picture she explained was ‘Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen staring affectionally into the eyes of admitted illegal [sic] immigrant and accused serial wife abuser and human trafficker with suspected gang ties, who was recently deported to his home country.’ Others claim Garcia is ‘a loving father and husband,’ who ‘has never been charged with or convicted of a crime in the United States.’ But whether adangerous criminal or an innocent, hard-working family man, Garcia’s status is hardly the issue. This is about whether our government must follow its written Constitution.” (04/21/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/21/the-hill-to-die-on/
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41) Google Faces Historic Breakup
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“Just a few days after being found liable of monopolizing digital advertising markets, Google will soon find out its penalty for monopolizing online search markets. On Monday, the remedy phase began of a trial that found that Google illegally muscled out competition in search by purchasing default space on devices and browsers. ‘This is the time to tell Google and all other monopolists watching (and they are watching) that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws,’ said David Dahlquist, the attorney representing the Justice Department, in opening arguments. This is the first major monopolization case in 25 years, successfully argued by Joe Biden’s Justice Department antitrust division. Now Donald Trump’s antitrust division must argue the remedy phase, where they are calling for a partial breakup of Google. The hearing before Judge Amit Mehta in D.C. district court is scheduled to last three weeks.” (04/21/25)
https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-21-google-antitrust-breakup-chrome/
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42) No Joke: US considering nuclear power for Saudi in grand bargain
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ivan Eland
“The Trump administration is reportedly pursuing a deal with Saudi Arabia that would be a pathway to developing a commercial nuclear power industry in the desert kingdom and maybe even lead to the enrichment of uranium on Saudi soil. U.S. pursuit of this deal should be scrapped because the United States would bear all the increased commitments, costs, and risks with very little in return.” (04/21/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/no-joke-us-considering-nuclear-power-for-saudi-in-grand-bargain/
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43) Quantum Vibe, 04/21/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (04/21/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2531
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44) Politics as usual will not stop Trump’s unconstitutional acts
Source: Orange County Register
by Patrick Eddington
“If Trump does defy at-scale federal court rulings against him (which seems increasingly likely), he will have exposed the fatal flaw in the Founders’ constitutional design, a determined autocrat with total control over federal police and a subservient Congress can defy federal courts with impunity, a situation that, left unchecked, would mark the end of the republic and trigger the creation of an American autocracy. Democratic governors with friendly state legislatures could change this political dynamic by taking two steps. First, they should sever all ties between their states’ law enforcement organizations and those at the federal level as an initial step in protecting their own institutions and inhabitants from federal repression under Trump. … Second, one or more governors with friendly state legislatures could pass a constitutional amendment that would make three critical changes to the Republic’s governing document.” (04/20/25)
https://archive.is/P4uD5
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45) Environment improves as more nations prosper; the greatest polluter is poverty
Source: New York Post
by Bjorn Lomborg
“As we approach Earth Day this Tuesday, it’s tempting to believe that the world is on the brink of environmental collapse. We are constantly inundated by dire predictions of climate catastrophe and warnings about the planet’s imminent destruction. But this is misleading. Rather than spiraling into panic, we should take a moment to appreciate the remarkable progress we’ve made in improving the environment, and acknowledge that a key factor is prosperity. When Earth Day was first marked 55 years ago, the world faced some grim environmental challenges. Rivers were catching fire and cities were choked with smog. Air and water pollution were rampant, especially in the industrialized West. Today, outdoor air pollution has declined dramatically in rich countries. Over the past three decades, death risk from air pollution has spectacularly declined by over 70%, while waterways have become cleaner and nations reforested.” (04/20/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/20/opinion/environment-improves-as-more-nations-prosper-the-greatest-polluter-is-poverty/
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46) The Inspiringly Insatiable Rage of Ansar Allah
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“He doesn’t seem to have realized it quite yet, but Donald Trump has driven directly into a brick wall in Yemen. After Benjamin Netanyahu tore up his short-lived ceasefire with Hamas and escalated his genocide in Gaza with a total blockade and Donald Trump joined him to announce his intentions to build condos on the rubble, the Houthi rebels also known as Ansar Allah announced their intentions to restart their own guerrilla blockade against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea unless the Nakba stops. … While Trump and his minions belched proudly of the ‘incredible success’ of their war crimes, hundreds of thousands of Yemeni citizens have been seen taking to the streets of Sadaa to publicly celebrate their defiance of empire.” (04/20/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-inspiringly-insatiable-rage-of.html
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47) Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Even Let You Drink Your Way Through these Tough Times
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jacob Grier
“Exotic cocktail ingredients are about to become pricier or disappear from the market altogether.” (04/20/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-tariffs-wont-even-let-you
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48) Free Stuff is Expensive
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden
“There is an endless list of ways we want to improve cities and help the poor. The list of problems plaguing poor communities is long. Every major US city has areas where the schools are terrible, crime is rampant, the sidewalks and streets are little more than rubble, fresh food is in short supply, and there are no parks or playgrounds to speak of. Helping people in this lowly state should be simple. Make the schools better. Hire more cops. Spread some concrete and asphalt. Start a farmer’s market. Build a playground. Simple, right? Not really. Amenities are expensive even when you don’t have to pay for them directly. Why? They make places nicer and, therefore, more attractive places to live.” (04/20/25)
https://www.econlib.org/free-stuff-is-expensive/
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49) Interview: The Authoritarian State in Miniature
Source: In These Times
by Shane Burley
“Not all coups change a country in an instant. Some are a slow-boil process of subversion that nonetheless leaves the institutions they affect unrecognizable. Journalist Talia Lavin has spent her career looking at the violent and bigoted politics of the United States’ rightward turn, and, as she chronicles in her recent book, Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America, the Christian nationalist movement currently remaking U.S. society was one such long revolution. From the Christian Right’s early mobilization in the 1970s, as they fought desegregation by embracing private schools and homeschooling, to the culture wars seeking to undo myriad progressive reforms, Lavin finds that most of the movement’s political projects emerged from an authoritarian evangelical culture centered in the home.” (04/21/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/author-interview-talia-lavin-christian-nationalism-authoritarianism
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50) Ten Observations About Kyrgyzstan
Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn
“I first came to Bishkek as a college student trying to learn Russian and returned a few years later to report on an insurrection against the president. I don’t think I ever expected to actually live in Kyrgyzstan, but … life is funny sometimes, and for the past year and a half I’ve been living in Bishkek, teaching journalism and public relations at an international university. As a perk of being here, I get the opportunity to throw my kalpak into the ring with Yascha Mounk and Quico Toro in Persuasion’s ‘Observations About …’ series.” (04/20/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/10-observations-about-kyrgyzstan
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable
Source: Reason
"Why Due Process Matters." (04/21/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/04/21/why-due-process-matters/
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52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 788
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Sends Plane Loads of Bunker-Busting Bombs to Israel.” (04/21/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-788-trump-sends-plane-loads-of-bunker-busting-bombs-to-israel
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53) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 04/21/25
Source: Show-Me Institute
“A New Voice for Accountability, and School Choice in Missouri with Cory Koedel.” (04/21/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/a-new-voice-for-accountability-and-school-choice-in-missouri-with-cory-koedel/
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54) Finding Freedom, 04/21/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“The Fractional Work Revolution with Cory Hanscom.” (04/21/25)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fractional-work-revolution-with-cory-hanscom/id1602918224?i=1000704314225
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55) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/21/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Ugly New Eruptions over Abrego Garcia Wreck His Own Arguments.” (04/21/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/194171/trump-ugly-new-eruptions-abrego-garcia-wreck-arguments
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56) EconTalk, 04/21/25
Source: EconTalk
“Why Christianity Needs to Help Save Democracy (with Jonathan Rauch).” (04/21/25)
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57) TechTank, season 5, episode 18
Source: Brookings Institution
“How DOGE is Using AI in Government.” (04/21/25)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/how-doge-is-using-ai-in-government
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58) Fountainhead Forum, episode 299
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Michael Huemer on philosophy and the liberty movement in 2020.” (04/21/25)
https://rumble.com/v6sdabr-ff-299-michael-huemer-on-philosophy-and-the-liberty-movement-in-2020.html
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59) Free Talk Live, 04/20/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Time travel theories :: Covid theories :: Global entanglement :: Traveling back in time to talk about time travel :: The cost of freedom :: Race wars are a spook, stop being manipulated :: Enron :: 2025-04-20 :: Hosts: Lori, Mark, Rich E. Rich.” (04/20/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2025-04-20
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60) Kosmopolitika, episode 2
Source: Nonzero
“Where Do We Belong? | Call-in Show w/ Nikita Petrov & Boris Shoshitaishvili.” (04/20/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6SP9fxKx4I
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