04/21 -- Japan: Regime loosens arms exports rules in further shift back toward pre-WW2 militarism; Consenting to Endless Coercion
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Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 21, 2026, 6:13:16 AM (10 days ago) Apr 21
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/21/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Japan: Regime loosens arms exports rules in further shift back toward pre-WW2 militarism
2) Trump invokes Bolshevik-style war communism (again) in attempt to remediate his oil supply fiasco
3) China: Xi Calls For Reopening of Hormuz, “Immediate Ceasefire” in US-Iran War
4) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador citing “direct threats”
5) Chavez-DeRemer out as US Labor secretary
6) Peru: Regime Reviews Disputed Election Ballots With Final Result Likely Stalled Until May
7) Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket grounded after delivering satellite to wrong orbit
8) Patel files frivolous lawsuit vs. The Atlantic
9) Hungary: Magyar announces ministers after landslide election win
10) Mexico: Four US drug thugs killed in car crash
11) Slovenia: Golob’s Party Goes Into Opposition After Coalition Talks Fail
12) EU: Serbia could lose access to a billion euros over democratic backsliding
13) Eli Lilly agrees to acquire cancer drug maker Kelonia in deal worth up to $7 billion
14) SCOTUS rejects Massachusetts school gender-identity policy challenge
15) UK: Two arrested in London synagogue arson case
16) UK: Starmer admits mistake in appointing Mandelson as UK ambassador but resists calls to resign
17) Importers rush to file as US regime launches tariff refund claims portal
18) France: Prosecutors summon Musk, Yaccarino over alleged child abuse images, deepfakes on X
19) MA: Paul Revere’s midnight ride unfolds in broad daylight, with a police escort
20) AZ: Residents kill home intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Consenting to Endless Coercion
22) The C-word in Surveillance
23) Three Disasters That Legal Weed Didn’t Unleash — Despite the Forecasts
24) America: Land of the (Not Really) Free
25) The Hyperreality of the State
26) Nothing About This Dystopia Feels Natural
27) The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
28) Perhaps only an autocracy can have a directed economy?
29) I Want You to March With Me This May Day
30) A Better Alternative to High-Deductible Health Insurance
31) How women’s digital lives change China
32) AI, free speech, and America’s real advantage over China
33) Iran’s 10-Point Plan Is Still a Workable Basis for Negotiations
34) Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
35) An Egalitarian Faith?
36) Evolutionary Subversion
37) Wisdom From the Founders: Why Eric Swalwell Should Never Have Been Elected in the First Place
38) A Reckoning Is Underway at the FDA
39) Catholics finally splitting with Trump over Iran war and Israel
40) Why Gas Tax Holidays Backfire
41) Trump Sabotages His Own Much-Exaggerated Iran Deal
42) Israel’s Expansion Means An Unraveling of Middle East Stability
43) MAGA’s Dead. What’s Next?
44) America is the Bad Guy in This Movie
45) If we don’t lock up and treat the mentally ill, we’ll continue to pay a deadly price
46) The high cost of high minimum wages
47) Ideas We Can Steal
48) Behind the “disappearing scientists” hysteria
49) After Decades of Quiet Rumbling, an Epidemic Is Erupting Among California Stoneworkers
50) In America’s First Solar-Powered Town, Education Options Abound
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 04/20/26
52) Rising, 04/20/26
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/20/26
54) Reason Interview: Afroman
55) SolutionsWatch, 04/20/26
56) EconTalk, 04/20/26
57) Free Talk Live, 04/19/26
58) Zooming In, 04/19/26
59) Unattended Baggage, episode 337
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/19/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Japan: Regime loosens arms exports rules in further shift back toward pre-WW2 militarism
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Japan has relaxed decades-old restrictions on its arms exports, clearing the way for it to sell weapons to more than a dozen countries. The announcement on Tuesday marks a milestone in Tokyo’s shift away from the pacifism that has characterised its post-war defence policy. It also comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region. Restrictions that limit arms exports to just five categories — rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and minesweeping — will be lifted. This means Japan can now sell lethal weapons to the 17 countries with which it has defence agreements, including the US and the UK. … Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said in a press briefing that the move was ‘intended to safeguard Japan’s security and further contribute to the peace and stability of the region.'” (04/21/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyx4vlqy4vo
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2) Trump invokes Bolshevik-style war communism (again) in attempt to remediate his oil supply fiasco
Source: Axios
“President Trump said Monday he’ll use a Cold War-era national security law to try and bolster domestic production of motor fuels and electricity. His use of the Defense Production Act comes amid high gasoline prices during the Iran war, and rising power costs. … The memos address petroleum production and refining, coal-fired power, natural gas pipelines and processing, and more. They invoke the 1950 law that gives presidents substantial powers to try to bolster private industrial production of materials and supply chains deemed vital to U.S. security.” [editor’s note: Trump and Biden both used the DPA during COVID as well. It doesn’t accomplish much, other than signaling to the serfs who claims to be in charge – TLK] (04/20/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/20/trump-energy-fuel-cold-war-defense-law
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3) China: Xi Calls For Reopening of Hormuz, “Immediate Ceasefire” in US-Iran War
Source: Forbes
“China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Iran War and said the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened for shipping traffic, in his first public remarks calling for the critical waterway to be opened just weeks before he is set to host President Donald Trump in Beijing. Xi’s remarks were included in a readout of a call between him and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, released by Chinese State media. Xi said the strait should ‘remain open for normal passage,’ without singling out either Iran or the U.S. blockade. The Chinese leader also added that his country wants an ‘immediate and comprehensive ceasefire’ and is willing to support all diplomatic efforts to restore peace.” (04/21/26)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/04/20/chinas-xi-finally-speaks-on-trumps-iran-war-says-strait-hormuz-must-reopen/
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4) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador citing “direct threats”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Berlin has summoned the Russian ambassador to condemn what it calls ‘direct threats’ against ‘targets in Germany.’ The threats, which were not detailed, are aimed at undermining Germany’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, Berlin’s Federal Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday. … Last week, Russia’s Ministry of Defence published a list of 21 companies that Moscow believes are subsidiaries of Ukrainian defence companies or suppliers of key components. At least three German firms were among those listed as supplying drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to Ukraine. The post included a vague suggestion that those locations could be targeted.” (04/20/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/20/germany-summons-russian-ambassador-citing-direct-threats
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5) Chavez-DeRemer out as US Labor secretary
Source: CNN
“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will step down from the Trump administration to take a job in the private sector, according to a statement posted Monday by White House communications director Steven Cheung. … Chavez-DeRemer’s brief tenure has been one marked by turmoil as she’s come under internal investigation following complaints within the department about her conduct. The New York Times previously reported that her husband had been banned from the department’s headquarters amid sexual assault allegations. A criminal investigation into that matter has been closed. In March, two of her top aides were forced out amid an investigation into misconduct at the agency, the Times reported.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/politics/lori-chavez-deremer-labor-secretary-out-trump
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6) Peru: Regime Reviews Disputed Election Ballots With Final Result Likely Stalled Until May
Source: US News & World Report
“Peru’s electoral authorities began reviewing thousands of contested ballots on Monday, stalling the count in the April 12 general election and delaying final results, as no clear presidential rival has emerged to face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in a June runoff. Roughly 6% of polling stations — representing more than one million votes — were challenged last week due to missing information or errors on tally sheets, according to Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). Peru’s top electoral body, the National Jury of Elections (JNE), said it has started reviewing disputed polling stations in public hearings before adding them to the final tally, a process that could take weeks.” (04/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-20/peru-reviews-disputed-election-ballots-with-final-result-likely-stalled-until-may
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7) Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket grounded after delivering satellite to wrong orbit
Source: The Verge
“The Federal Aviation Administration grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket after it shuttled its payload to the wrong orbit during its launch on Sunday, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel. ‘The FAA is aware that Blue Origin New Glenn 3 experienced a mishap during the second-stage flight sequence following a successful launch,’ the FAA said in a statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. … Though the rocket’s reusable booster returned to its landing pad without issue, the rocket’s upper stage failed to deliver AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite. … Blue Origin confirmed that its second stage shut off its engines and was in a ‘coast phase’ after reaching an ‘off-nominal’ orbit, but it didn’t provide any other details about what went wrong or when it will return to Earth.” (04/20/26)
https://archive.is/dZt8p
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8) Patel files frivolous lawsuit vs. The Atlantic
Source: CNBC
“FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday morning filed a lawsuit seeking $250 million in damages from The Atlantic magazine for what he claims is a defamatory article that alleges he abuses alcohol. Patel over the weekend had vowed to sue The Atlantic for the article published on Friday, which was carried the headline ‘Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job.’ ‘The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,’ the article’s subhed says. Patel’s suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. … The Atlantic, in a statement to CNBC, said, ‘We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/20/kash-patel-atlantic-lawsuit-alcohol-fbi.html
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9) Hungary: Magyar announces ministers after landslide election win
Source: SFGate
“Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar on Monday announced the first round of his incoming government’s Cabinet members, including nominees for ministers of foreign affairs, finance and economy, following the first meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. Magyar and his center-right Tisza party defeated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a landslide election on April 12, securing a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s next parliament which will make it possible to undo many of the policies Orbán implemented during his 16 years in power. The opposition leader has vowed to restore democratic institutions and the rule of law which eroded under Orbán’s rule, and to hold accountable those who he says were responsible for overseeing and benefiting from widespread official corruption. Magyar’s party gained 141 seats out of 199 in parliament — the largest majority in Hungary’s post-Communist history. Orbán’s far-right, euroskeptic Fidesz party will control 52 seats, down from 135 before the election.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/hungary-s-magyar-announces-ministers-after-22216067.php
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10) Mexico: Four US drug thugs killed in car crash
Source: CBS News
“Four anti-narcotics agents, including two American embassy workers, were killed in a car accident while returning from a major drug raid in northern Mexico, prosecutors said Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, six clandestine synthetic drug labs were raided in Morelos, in the northern state of Chihuahua, following a three-month investigation, state prosecutor Cesar Jauregui told reporters. The victims’ vehicle, which was leading an official convoy of five cars, skidded off the road and plunged into a ravine, he said. The Americans killed were ‘instructor officers’ who ‘were carrying out training tasks’ as part of anti-drug cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, Jauregui said.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-embassy-officials-killed-car-crash-drug-lab-raid-mexico/
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11) Slovenia: Golob’s Party Goes Into Opposition After Coalition Talks Fail
Source: US News & World Report
“Slovenia’s outgoing prime minister, Robert Golob, on Monday said that his liberal Freedom Movement (GS), which narrowly won a parliamentary vote in March, would go into opposition after failing to secure a majority coalition, indicating that centre-right parties would form a government. GS won 29 of the 90 seats in parliament, followed by the right-leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of populist, pro-Trump ex-prime minister Janez Jansa on 28. Along with smaller parties that have typically supported them, GS would have 40 MPs while SDS would have 43 seats, leaving both in need of support from elsewhere.” (04/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-20/slovenia-pm-golobs-party-goes-into-opposition-after-coalition-talks-fail
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12) EU: Serbia could lose access to a billion euros over democratic backsliding
Source: SFGate
“Serbia could lose access to around 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in European Union funds if it fails to halt democratic backsliding, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos warned on Monday. International monitors have said they had witnessed violence and irregularities during last month’s local elections in 10 Serbian municipalities. ‘We are increasingly worried about what is happening in Serbia,’ Kos told EU lawmakers. She said the European Commission is ‘assessing whether the country still fulfills the conditions for payments under the EU’s financial instruments.’ Kos said the commission’s concerns range from ‘laws that undermine the independence of the judiciary, to crackdowns on protesters and recurrent meddling in independent media.’ Serbia qualifies for a big slice of an EU fund to promote growth in countries trying to join the bloc if they carry out reforms. Kos said Belgrade has received 110 million euros ($130 million), but that still ‘leaves around 1.5 billion under a question mark.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/eu-says-serbia-could-lose-access-to-a-billion-22216056.php
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13) Eli Lilly agrees to acquire cancer drug maker Kelonia in deal worth up to $7 billion
Source: CNBC
“Eli Lilly will acquire biotech company Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $7 billion, the company said Monday. Lilly will pay $3.25 billion upfront, and the remaining payments are contingent upon clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Kelonia is developing technology to reprogram patients’ T-cells inside the body so those cells can attack cancer, called in vivo CAR-T. Current treatments require that work to be done outside the body, or ex vivo, a process that involves harvesting cells, engineering them in a lab and then reintroducing them. While logistically intensive, the procedure has been successful for blood cancers like multiple myeloma.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/20/eli-lilly-to-acquire-cancer-drug-maker-kelonia.html
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14) SCOTUS rejects Massachusetts school gender-identity policy challenge
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by parents to sue a public school district in Massachusetts over actions by teachers and officials to support the gender identity of students by not disclosing name or pronoun changes to parents without the child’s consent. The justices turned away an appeal by the parents of a student who had self-identified as ‘genderqueer’ while attending a middle school in the Massachusetts town of Ludlow after a lower court threw out their lawsuit. The plaintiffs claimed officials treated their child as nonbinary and hid this information from them in violation of their fundamental parental rights as protected by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of due process.” (04/20/26)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-rejects-massachusetts-school-gender-identity-policy-challenge-2026-04-20/
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15) UK: Two arrested in London synagogue arson case
Source: United Press International
“British police overnight arrested two teens in connection with an attempted arson of a London synagogue, authorities said Monday as they investigate a rash of recent attacks targeting the Jewish community as possible terrorism. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told UPI in an emailed statement Monday that a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were arrested overnight …. There have been at least five separate arson attacks in London since four ambulances used by the Jewish community in Golders Green were set ablaze March 23. … The Met’s Counter Terrorism Policing unit is leading an investigation into all of these incidents, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans told reporters outside Kenton United in a Sunday press conference, stating that the ‘nature’ of all the crimes has been similar — ‘arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/04/20/synagogue-arson-arrests/1701776669549/
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16) UK: Starmer admits mistake in appointing Mandelson as UK ambassador but resists calls to resign
Source: SFGate
“British Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged Monday that he made the wrong judgment when he picked Jeffrey Epstein ’s friend Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington, batting away a barrage of calls to resign over a scandal that has left his leadership teetering. Starmer said he would have withdrawn the appointment if he’d known Mandelson had failed security checks, as he tried to explain why Mandelson was given the U.K.’s most important diplomatic post. Starmer placed blame squarely on Foreign Office officials who he said failed to tell him about the security concerns and approved Mandelson’s appointment despite them. Starmer told lawmakers in the House of Commons that ‘I would not have gone ahead with the appointment’ had he known the truth.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/british-prime-minister-starmer-faces-angry-22215247.php
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17) Importers rush to file as US regime launches tariff refund claims portal
Source: USA Today
“Jay Foreman said he’s ‘locked and loaded’ for the U.S. government’s April 20 launch of a new system to refund up to $166 billion in illegally collected tariffs, but he and many other importers are realistic that much could still go wrong. ‘You have to be worried about what they could possibly do to jam things up,’ said the CEO of toymaker Basic Fun, which sells Tonka trucks, Care Bears and K’Nex construction toys. The refund system is the latest twist in a drawn-out battle over tariffs collected over the past year …. The constantly shifting tariffs roiled global business as companies rushed to shift supply chains to avoid them as well as figure out who would ultimately pay the taxes. The Supreme Court in February struck down the tariffs President Trump pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies, handing the president a stinging defeat.” (04/20/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2026/04/20/tariff-refund-claims-portal-launch/89695651007/
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18) France: Prosecutors summon Musk, Yaccarino over alleged child abuse images, deepfakes on X
Source: Radio France Internationale [French state media]
“Billionaire Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content. Musk, the world’s richest man, and Linda Yaccarino – the former CEO of X – have been called for voluntary interviews on Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It is unclear whether either will attend. Prosecutors said the interviews would allow executives to ‘present their position’ and outline compliance measures. They described the inquiry as a ‘constructive approach’ aimed at ensuring X complies with French law.” (04/20/26)
https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20260420-french-prosecutors-summon-elon-musk-over-alleged-child-abuse-images-deepfakes-on-x
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19) MA: Paul Revere’s midnight ride unfolds in broad daylight, with a police escort
Source: SFGate
“The clip-clop of horse hooves echoed as Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston’s North End on Monday — a reenactment of his historic midnight ride, but with some modern-day tweaks: this time, the revolutionary hero set out under bright daylight and a police escort. Residents lined the narrow streets as the rider passed, some lifting phones to record while others waved, clapped and called out, ‘Here he comes!’ and ‘We love you, Paul!’ The ride cut through dense city blocks where everyday life continued alongside the spectacle — people walking dogs, jogging and moving through parks and apartment-lined streets, some pausing to watch, others carrying on. Mary McCabe, who came from Lowell with her daughter Cecily, said it was interesting ‘just to see how different messages traveled back then.’ Cecily, who said she loves learning about the American Revolution, said seeing the reenactment in person made history feel more real.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/paul-revere-s-midnight-ride-to-be-reenacted-22215265.php
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20) AZ: Residents kill home intruder
Source: AOL
“A man was shot and killed after police say he forced his way inside a Phoenix home overnight. Just after 3:15 a.m. on April 18, officers said 25-year-old Isaac Nathaniel Cordova-Fregoso forced entry into a home near 74th and Pueblo Avenue. The residents inside confronted the man and shot him at least once. Cordova-Fregoso was found inside the home with at least one gunshot wound. He died at the scene from his injuries.” (04/19/26)
https://www.aol.com/news/intruder-killed-forcing-way-phoenix-212126601.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Consenting to Endless Coercion
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard
“Presidents perennially claim that they possess their power thanks to ‘the consent of the governed.’ This phrase, a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson’s time. President Harry Truman assured Congress in 1952, ‘No government can be invested with a higher dignity and greater worth than one based upon the principle of consent.’ But this has long since been a charade. As the federal government has become far larger and more heavy-handed, it is ever more important to persuade people that they consented to their oppression. But political consent is gauged very differently than consent in other areas of life.” (04/20/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/consenting-to-endless-coercion/
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22) The C-word in Surveillance
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“I might not win an argument explaining how San Jose’s public surveillance relates to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. But. … That amendment insists that people have a right ‘to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,’ and that governments may not search and seize property without a warrant ‘upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ … I’m biased: mass surveillance is Orwellian. Do we want our government keeping track of us that much? Especially as in San Jose, where not only can over a thousand police department employees scour the data sans any legal warrant, but the department also shares this resource with over 300 agencies across the state. Creepy. That’s the word for it.” (04/20/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/20/c-word-in-surveillance/
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23) Three Disasters That Legal Weed Didn’t Unleash — Despite the Forecasts
Source: Reason
by Jeff Luse
“From higher crime to teenage stoners, here are things that the weed debate got wrong.” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/20/3-disasters-that-legal-weed-didnt-unleash-despite-the-forecasts/
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24) America: Land of the (Not Really) Free
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Supporters of the income tax implicitly endorse the idea that our rights are gifts from government and, thus, can be revoked by government at the will of our rulers. Adoption of the income tax signified the abandonment of the belief that individuals have inalienable rights granted them by the Creator. Therefore, those who believe in natural rights must reject income taxation. It is also a violation of the people’s rights when the central bank reduces the value of the dollar, and thus the people’s purchasing power, via the hidden inflation tax.” (04/20/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/america-land-of-the-not-really-free
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25) The Hyperreality of the State
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Philippe Lemieux
“Modern economic policies increasingly give an impression of unreality. Governments announce reassuring indicators while individuals experience something entirely different: persistent inflation, housing shortages, stagnating purchasing power. This gap is not merely an analytical error. It reveals a deeper problem: the state no longer reacts to economic reality as it is lived, but to a reconstructed version built from models, indicators, and abstract categories. The market, by contrast, does not rely on representation. It emerges directly from human action.” 904/20/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/hyperreality-state
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26) Nothing About This Dystopia Feels Natural
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“We all sense it deep in our marrow. We all know something has gone terribly wrong. If you lived in an alternate reality without wars or poverty, where everyone had enough and governments did what’s in the interests of the people and the ecosystem, it would never occur to you that there was anything odd about it. It would feel completely normal. Things would be more or less how you’d expect them to be. You can’t say the same about the present status quo. The whole thing instinctively scans as weird and counterintuitive. The more you learn about the way the world works, the more insane it all looks to you. Have you ever had to explain war to a young child? It’s terrible. If you’re actually honest with them about what war is and why it is waged, it completely shatters their understanding of the world.” (04/20/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/20/nothing-about-this-dystopia-feels-natural/
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27) The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
Source: CounterPunch
by M Reza Behnam
“The unprovoked joint U.S.-Israeli war launched against Iran on 28 February 2026 will manifestly change West Asia. When it ends, Arab despots, who allowed their countries to be used as platforms for aggression against Iran, will confront a new reality. The safety and stability they thought was theirs based on fealty to the United States and its Israeli proxy was shattered as Iranian missiles and drones were en route to destroy the U.S. military and intelligence installations they had allowed on their soil; a subordination they falsely believed would protect them. The Arab world is learning the hard way what the late-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in his cold logic, implied decades ago about American foreign policy: ‘The word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/20/the-axis-of-terror-the-destructive-price-of-americas-blind-allegiance-to-israel/
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28) Perhaps only an autocracy can have a directed economy?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“[Ha Joon] Chang positively revels in the power that the military dictatorship in South Korea had over who could produce what, how. It’s positively lipsmacking, that relish with which the stories of commands to produce this or that are described. As we point out, you cannot do that sort of thing in a free society. You can’t even do that sort of thing in a liberal society — because freedom and liberty do indeed mean not being commanded to produce this or that and in what manner.” (04/20/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/perhaps-only-an-autocracy-can-have-a-directed-economy
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29) I Want You to March With Me This May Day
Source: Our Future
by Sulma Arias
“This May Day, I’ll be one of the millions who will peacefully take to the streets to denounce the cruelty and corruption of this administration and the oligarchs it serves. I will march because I believe our lives are worth more than dollars and cents. Every one of us deserves the right to live in dignity with hope for the future. I invite you to join me. May Day began in the 19th century, when industrial workers came together to demand something we now take for granted: an eight-hour workday. At that time, even children worked twelve or more hours straight in factories, every day. We too easily forget how far we have come, and that victories like these were won by organized people.” (04/19/26)
https://ourfuture.org/20260419/i-want-you-to-march-with-me-this-may-day
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30) A Better Alternative to High-Deductible Health Insurance
Source: Independent Institute
by John C Goodman & Pete Sessions
“Health economics tells us there are two ways to insure for anything: self-insurance (with individuals taking the risks and saving to pay for them) and third-party insurance (in which an insurance company, an employer or the government bears the risk). Self-insurance makes sense for risks over which we have more personal control. For example, just about every time you have needed a Band-Aid, it was probably for an event you could have easily avoided. The problem is that most people are not accustomed to self-insuring for medical expenses. The median household has only $8,000 in a bank account, and millions of families are living paycheck to paycheck. The solution to that problem is a Health Savings Account.” (04/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/20/a-better-alternative-to-high-deductible-health-insurance/
-----
31) How women’s digital lives change China
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“A recent surprise in China was a survey that found professional women have adapted faster to using artificial intelligence than men. They also show less fear of AI. Yet it was the explanation for this AI gender gap that offered a keyhole into how Chinese women are changing themselves and society from inside the narrow lanes imposed upon them by the ruling party. One insight on the survey came from Poh-Yian Koh, president of FedEx China. She said in the era of AI, the common female traits of flexibility, resilience, empathy, long-term vision, and bridge-building allow women to serve as ‘indispensable ‘interpreters’ who connect technology with humanity.’ ‘Technology can be replicated. Empathy cannot,’ she said. ‘In the age of intelligence, trust is the scarcest resource’” Technology might determine how fast society moves, but ‘humanity determines how far we go.'” (04/18/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0417/How-women-s-digital-lives-change-China
-----
32) AI, free speech, and America’s real advantage over China
Source: The Eternally Radical Idea
by Greg Lukianoff & Adam Thierer
“Our overbroad proposed AI regulations should alarm anyone who cares about free speech — and America’s competitive position against China.” (04/20/26)
https://eternallyradicalidea.com/p/ai-free-speech-and-americas-real
-----
33) Iran’s 10-Point Plan Is Still a Workable Basis for Negotiations
Source: Common Dreams
by Nicolas JS Davies
“The US government under Donald Trump has twice used disingenuous negotiations with Iran to provide cover for attacking it, in June 2025 and again before launching the current war in February. Now it is trying to do so for a third time. On April 8, the US and Iran began a two week ceasefire, after Trump accepted a 10-point peace plan drawn up by Iran as ‘a workable basis on which to negotiate’. But Vice President Vance and US negotiators rejected Iran’s plan out of hand at talks in Pakistan on April 11, and instead demanded that Iran must give up its right as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (or NPT) to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. The talks ended with no agreement. As the end of the ceasefire on April 22 drew near, Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to US demands on enriched uranium and other matters.” (04/20/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/iran-war-10-point-peace-plan
-----
34) Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Larry Iannaccone and his co-author Rodney Stark once wrote that the belief that society is getting less religious says ‘less about empirical fact than it does about secularization faith — a faith that, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, sustains the conviction of many social scientists that religious institutions must soon decay …’ In short, belief in secularization is just a religion. Larry’s critics were, unsurprisingly, not pleased. To tell people that their non-religious beliefs are just a religion is an insult. Why is it an insult? There isn’t any nice way to answer, so I’ll be blunt. It is an insult because the way that people form religious beliefs is so intellectually irresponsible that their conclusions are almost guaranteed to be false.”? (04/20/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/why-religious-beliefs-are-irrational-4cc
-----
35) An Egalitarian Faith?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ben Peterson
“Even before 1776, American liberty and equality were expressed in church and civil covenants and compacts, like the 1620 Mayflower Compact. Alexis de Tocqueville makes much of such covenants and compacts in Democracy in America, arguing that religion lies at the core of American character and sustains the American experiment in democracy. Christianity, in his view, is especially well-suited to supporting liberty, equality, and self-government, as it naturally rules over hearts and minds without relying on state support. Uncontested in the intellectual and moral realm, Christianity lifts the democratic soul upward, beyond the petty material concerns that tend to consume men’s minds in democratic ages. At the same time, Tocqueville argues that Christianity must accommodate itself to democratic equality, especially the love of material wellbeing and distaste for forms it engenders.” (04/20/26)
https://lawliberty.org/an-egalitarian-faith/
-----
36) Evolutionary Subversion
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“How to evolve a hierarchy without fighting it head on.” (04/20/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/evolutionary-subversion
-----
37) Wisdom From the Founders: Why Eric Swalwell Should Never Have Been Elected in the First Place
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“‘If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?’ – James Madison … A very clear — and truthful — analysis by Mr. Madison, and it explains in a few words, the problem with most governments in history, and that includes the current American government. As I have noted countless times, the American Founders said that the country cannot succeed without a virtuous people electing virtuous leaders. Well, people elected Eric Swalwell, who is the epitome of vice and immorality. Swalwell is human scum, but what does his election to Congress tell us about the people who put him there in the first place? And do we really think the people of his Congressional district are going to learn from their folly and replace Swalwell with a paragon of Christian virtue?” (04/20/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/04/20/wisdom-from-the-founders-why-eric-swalwell-should-never-have-been-elected-in-the-first-place-n2674705
-----
38) A Reckoning Is Underway at the FDA
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Maryanne Demasi
“In September, it was reported that FDA officials had privately investigated 25 paediatric deaths following Covid vaccination — the first systematic review of such cases since the rollout began. The findings were meant to be presented to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). But the presentation never came. The meeting passed without a word. Something had happened behind closed doors. Now we know what.” (04/20/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/a-reckoning-is-underway-at-the-fda/
-----
39) Catholics finally splitting with Trump over Iran war and Israel
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“It started with Gaza, but the admin’s fight with the pope and its insistence that Jesus blesses US bombing raids have put this pillar of the base at serious risk.” (04/20/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/catholics-pope-war-trump/
-----
40) Why Gas Tax Holidays Backfire
Source: The Daily Economy
by Thomas Savidge
“Adjusting end prices can’t address the underlying shortage. In fact, waiving taxes may intensify demand when supply is already stretched.” (04/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-gas-tax-holidays-backfire/
-----
41) Trump Sabotages His Own Much-Exaggerated Iran Deal
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“On Thursday and Friday, there seemed to be progress toward a war-ending deal. President Trump went along with an Iranian demand that Israel must cease bombing Lebanon as a precondition to talks. … on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the Strait of Hormuz was ‘completely open.’ Trump claimed that a deal was at hand, leading the stock market to jump and the price of oil to fall. In ordinary diplomacy, this is how a deal unfolds. Each side offers the other something constructive, a process that builds confidence and trust, until eventually a firm agreement can be signed. But Trump is not a ordinary diplomat. Only a few hours after Araghchi proclaimed the strait open, Trump closed it again, announcing that the U.S. would continue its own blockade of the strait ‘until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.” (04/20/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/20/trump-sabotages-his-own-much-exaggerated-iran-deal/
-----
42) Israel’s Expansion Means An Unraveling of Middle East Stability
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“The recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran may have paused the most intense phase of direct military confrontation, but it has done nothing to resolve the deeper questions about Middle Eastern stability that have emerged since October 7, 2023. Behind the temporary calm lies a profound transformation in Israeli strategic thinking, one that has moved from containment to active regional reorganization. Israel is not a normal democracy that abides by the rule of law or legal restraint. It is very much an expansionist state with bold ambitions and a demonstrated willingness to break international law. The events of the past two years have made this reality impossible to ignore.” (04/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/israels-expansion-means-an-unraveling-of-middle-east-stability
-----
43) MAGA’s Dead. What’s Next?
Source: The American Conservative
by Andrew Day
“The conservative-populist movement that Trump summoned has dominated the American right for a decade, but when he leaves office three years hence, either something new will take its place or a period of incoherence will commence. Right-wingers in recent years have propounded several alternatives: Catholic ‘integralism,’ which seems unable to garner much support in our secular, erstwhile Protestant nation; ‘post-liberalism,’ an empty signifier and mere negation; white nationalism, a dead end; CEO-style monarchism, which Trumpism has in effect only further delegitimized (hence the ‘No Kings’ protests); and so on. This essay proposes and adumbrates a different ideology, which I believe could not only glue together a winning coalition but also guide responsible governance: right-liberalism.” (04/20/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/magas-dead-whats-next/
-----
44) America is the Bad Guy in This Movie
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“For nearly a century, mainstream American cinema has regurgitated, devoured, and re-regurgitated the same foaming popcorn mythology in which it is presented as basic common sense that America is always the good guy and that every foreigner with a funny accent who stands in his way is a totally otherized human bowling pin who exists for the sole purpose of being obliterated again and again and again in a voluptuous bacchanalia of endless machine gun barrages and bottomless stacks of bloodless corpses. Your average American is raised on a steady diet of this schlock with a side of paint-by-the-numbers public school history teachers who can turn any warzone into a beige labyrinth of names and dates to memorize for next week’s ludoviko scantron test.” (04/19/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/04/america-is-bad-guy-in-this-movie.html
-----
45) If we don’t lock up and treat the mentally ill, we’ll continue to pay a deadly price
Source: New York Post
by Stephen Eide
“Last week, in Nebraska, Noemi Guzman tried to kidnap a 3-year-old from Walmart. Horrific bodycam footage from the police shows her holding a knife over the boy, slashing him, before cops shot her dead. Two years prior, a judge let Guzman off for a raft of felony charges, including arson and assault, by reason of insanity. One of the most horrific crimes this decade happened last August, when, on Charlotte North Carolina’s transit system, a mentally ill man named Decarlos Brown allegedly stabbed to death Iryna Zarutska, a complete stranger and Ukrainian refugee. Brown suffers from schizophrenia, yet was let go for previous crimes. His mother said she tried to get him involuntarily committed but was refused.” (04/19/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/19/opinion/if-we-dont-lock-up-and-treat-the-mentally-ill-well-continue-to-pay-a-deadly-price/
-----
46) The high cost of high minimum wages
Source: The Hill
by Fracois Melese
“New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is pushing for ‘$30 in ’30,’ to raise the city’s minimum from $17 today to $30/hour by the end of the decade. Supporters applaud lawmakers granting struggling workers a ‘living wage.’ The logic seems clear: Wage hikes boost incomes, making life more affordable. But although increases to the minimum wage help those lucky enough to keep their jobs, hours and benefits, they hurt many more.” (04/19/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5836543-pro-growth-policies-affordability/
-----
47) Ideas We Can Steal
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My previous post provided an example of the use of past legal systems in understanding our present legal system: the logic of feud law applied to high tech patent litigation. There are others, some of which suggest changes we might want to make to our system, ideas we could steal.” (04/19/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ideas-we-can-steal
-----
48) Behind the “disappearing scientists” hysteria
Source: UnHerd
by Richard Hanania
“Are America’s top scientists being kidnapped or disappeared by a foreign adversary? Right-wing media are abuzz with speculation that 11 different individuals working on issues related to secret technology or the investigation of extraterrestrial life have been picked off one by one: murdered, kidnapped, disappeared. The stuff of The X-Files, in short: ‘The truth is out there,’ but shadowy forces don’t want you to know. After working its way through the conservative press and the online Right, this narrative got a major boost last week, when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration was looking into the matter. … Fortunately, this entire narrative appears to be, to put it gently, complete nonsense.” (04/19/26)
https://archive.is/qWqXX
-----
49) After Decades of Quiet Rumbling, an Epidemic Is Erupting Among California Stoneworkers
Source: In These Times
by Kayla Yup
“Luis Hernandez, then 35, woke to a gray, hazy sky on Feb. 17, 2024. He opted for a warm sweater and cargo pants with pockets just big enough to hold his spare canister of oxygen, but he hoped he wouldn’t need it. It would be a big day out for him and his friends — the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., was hosting a special Pokemon Go event where some of the rarest Pokemon could be found. When the group arrived, they headed straight to the belly of the bowl, blanketed with bright green turf. Hernandez settled into a rhythm: Walk 50 feet. Pause for 30 minutes. Catch some Pokemon. Walk another 50 feet. Pause another 30 minutes. Catch some Pokemon. Walk another 50 feet. Pause another 30 minutes. When he started gasping for air, he sat down — on a chair if he was lucky, the turf if he was not.” (04/20/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/decades-struggle-workplace-protections-california-stoneworkers-lung-disease
-----
50) In America’s First Solar-Powered Town, Education Options Abound
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“[Amanda] Pacheco is one of approximately 15,000 residents in what is known as America’s first solar-powered town, defined by its environmental vision, hurricane resilience and strong sense of community. Since welcoming its first residents in January 2018, Babcock Ranch’s population has soared, with plans to reach 50,000 in the years ahead. As this future-focused community grows, its K-12 education landscape is expanding alongside it, shaped by the same spirit of innovation. With a rising assortment of public schooling, homeschooling and micro-schooling options, Babcock Ranch offers a distinct snapshot of today’s evolving education offerings and the families who choose them.” (04/19/26)
https://fee.org/articles/in-americas-first-solar-powered-town-education-options-abound/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 04/20/26
Source: Reason
"Can New York Survive Mamdani's Tax Plan?" (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/20/can-new-york-survive-mamdanis-tax-plan/
-----
52) Rising, 04/20/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Rep. Ilhan Omar claiming her net worth to be less than $100,000, after a report from last year showed that her and her husband held assets worth up to $30 million.” (04/20/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5834599-rising-april-20-2026/
-----
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/20/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty
“Trump On Iran: ‘Lots Of Bombs Will Go Off’ If No Agreement.” (04/20/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1PJqrEAYnAQxb
-----
54) Reason Interview: Afroman
Source: Reason
“Afroman discusses his free speech court victory, why he thinks he could unite America, and whether he feels pressure to always be high.” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/20/afroman-on-becoming-the-2028-libertarian-presidential-nominee/
-----
55) SolutionsWatch, 04/20/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Declaring Health Sovereignty.” (04/20/26)
https://corbettreport.com/declaring-health-sovereignty/
-----
56) EconTalk, 04/20/26
Source: EconTalk
“Adam Smith’s Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine).” (04/20/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/adam-smiths-warning-about-wealth-fame-and-status-with-ross-levine/
-----
57) Free Talk Live, 04/19/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Genitals stolen in Africa :: Will Bitcoin die? :: Issues gold, silver and bitcoin could face :: Mark Challenges Rich E Rich on Bitcoin maximalism :: Shopping malls making a resurgence? :: What demographic stealing from malls? :: Learned helplessness and the scientist that helped the CIA to torture :: Caller said repeal the 19th amendment and right to vote for Italians :: How the cops stole Bonnie’s spit :: They’re putting toilets in cars :: 62 year old won the right to wear a penis costume in public :: You deserve your whole penis :: James Wittekind calls breaking Mark’s restraining order :: Invideo.io for making AI videos :: 2026-04-19 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Mark Edge, Colin, Rich E Rich.” (04/19/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-04-19
-----
58) Zooming In, 04/19/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Trump Proved to be Unimaginably Bad for the Free Market Cause: A Conversation with Veronique de Rugy.” (04/19/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-proved-to-be-unimaginably-bad
-----
59) Unattended Baggage, episode 337
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Adrian forgets to push a button, Alex still trying to crawl out of his dark hole, you can trust us when we urge you not to trust us, Anthropic just became the most powerful entity on Earth …” (04/19/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-337-take-2
-----
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/19/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Navy Attacks Iranian Cargo Ship, Israel Establishes Gaza-Style ‘Yellow Line’ in Lebanon, and More.” (04/19/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6p6Cg1rEFY
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Japan: Regime loosens arms exports rules in further shift back toward pre-WW2 militarism
2) Trump invokes Bolshevik-style war communism (again) in attempt to remediate his oil supply fiasco
3) China: Xi Calls For Reopening of Hormuz, “Immediate Ceasefire” in US-Iran War
4) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador citing “direct threats”
5) Chavez-DeRemer out as US Labor secretary
6) Peru: Regime Reviews Disputed Election Ballots With Final Result Likely Stalled Until May
7) Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket grounded after delivering satellite to wrong orbit
8) Patel files frivolous lawsuit vs. The Atlantic
9) Hungary: Magyar announces ministers after landslide election win
10) Mexico: Four US drug thugs killed in car crash
11) Slovenia: Golob’s Party Goes Into Opposition After Coalition Talks Fail
12) EU: Serbia could lose access to a billion euros over democratic backsliding
13) Eli Lilly agrees to acquire cancer drug maker Kelonia in deal worth up to $7 billion
14) SCOTUS rejects Massachusetts school gender-identity policy challenge
15) UK: Two arrested in London synagogue arson case
16) UK: Starmer admits mistake in appointing Mandelson as UK ambassador but resists calls to resign
17) Importers rush to file as US regime launches tariff refund claims portal
18) France: Prosecutors summon Musk, Yaccarino over alleged child abuse images, deepfakes on X
19) MA: Paul Revere’s midnight ride unfolds in broad daylight, with a police escort
20) AZ: Residents kill home intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Consenting to Endless Coercion
22) The C-word in Surveillance
23) Three Disasters That Legal Weed Didn’t Unleash — Despite the Forecasts
24) America: Land of the (Not Really) Free
25) The Hyperreality of the State
26) Nothing About This Dystopia Feels Natural
27) The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
28) Perhaps only an autocracy can have a directed economy?
29) I Want You to March With Me This May Day
30) A Better Alternative to High-Deductible Health Insurance
31) How women’s digital lives change China
32) AI, free speech, and America’s real advantage over China
33) Iran’s 10-Point Plan Is Still a Workable Basis for Negotiations
34) Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
35) An Egalitarian Faith?
36) Evolutionary Subversion
37) Wisdom From the Founders: Why Eric Swalwell Should Never Have Been Elected in the First Place
38) A Reckoning Is Underway at the FDA
39) Catholics finally splitting with Trump over Iran war and Israel
40) Why Gas Tax Holidays Backfire
41) Trump Sabotages His Own Much-Exaggerated Iran Deal
42) Israel’s Expansion Means An Unraveling of Middle East Stability
43) MAGA’s Dead. What’s Next?
44) America is the Bad Guy in This Movie
45) If we don’t lock up and treat the mentally ill, we’ll continue to pay a deadly price
46) The high cost of high minimum wages
47) Ideas We Can Steal
48) Behind the “disappearing scientists” hysteria
49) After Decades of Quiet Rumbling, an Epidemic Is Erupting Among California Stoneworkers
50) In America’s First Solar-Powered Town, Education Options Abound
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 04/20/26
52) Rising, 04/20/26
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/20/26
54) Reason Interview: Afroman
55) SolutionsWatch, 04/20/26
56) EconTalk, 04/20/26
57) Free Talk Live, 04/19/26
58) Zooming In, 04/19/26
59) Unattended Baggage, episode 337
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/19/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Japan: Regime loosens arms exports rules in further shift back toward pre-WW2 militarism
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Japan has relaxed decades-old restrictions on its arms exports, clearing the way for it to sell weapons to more than a dozen countries. The announcement on Tuesday marks a milestone in Tokyo’s shift away from the pacifism that has characterised its post-war defence policy. It also comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region. Restrictions that limit arms exports to just five categories — rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and minesweeping — will be lifted. This means Japan can now sell lethal weapons to the 17 countries with which it has defence agreements, including the US and the UK. … Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said in a press briefing that the move was ‘intended to safeguard Japan’s security and further contribute to the peace and stability of the region.'” (04/21/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyx4vlqy4vo
-----
2) Trump invokes Bolshevik-style war communism (again) in attempt to remediate his oil supply fiasco
Source: Axios
“President Trump said Monday he’ll use a Cold War-era national security law to try and bolster domestic production of motor fuels and electricity. His use of the Defense Production Act comes amid high gasoline prices during the Iran war, and rising power costs. … The memos address petroleum production and refining, coal-fired power, natural gas pipelines and processing, and more. They invoke the 1950 law that gives presidents substantial powers to try to bolster private industrial production of materials and supply chains deemed vital to U.S. security.” [editor’s note: Trump and Biden both used the DPA during COVID as well. It doesn’t accomplish much, other than signaling to the serfs who claims to be in charge – TLK] (04/20/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/20/trump-energy-fuel-cold-war-defense-law
-----
3) China: Xi Calls For Reopening of Hormuz, “Immediate Ceasefire” in US-Iran War
Source: Forbes
“China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Iran War and said the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened for shipping traffic, in his first public remarks calling for the critical waterway to be opened just weeks before he is set to host President Donald Trump in Beijing. Xi’s remarks were included in a readout of a call between him and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, released by Chinese State media. Xi said the strait should ‘remain open for normal passage,’ without singling out either Iran or the U.S. blockade. The Chinese leader also added that his country wants an ‘immediate and comprehensive ceasefire’ and is willing to support all diplomatic efforts to restore peace.” (04/21/26)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/04/20/chinas-xi-finally-speaks-on-trumps-iran-war-says-strait-hormuz-must-reopen/
-----
4) Germany: Regime summons Russian ambassador citing “direct threats”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Berlin has summoned the Russian ambassador to condemn what it calls ‘direct threats’ against ‘targets in Germany.’ The threats, which were not detailed, are aimed at undermining Germany’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, Berlin’s Federal Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday. … Last week, Russia’s Ministry of Defence published a list of 21 companies that Moscow believes are subsidiaries of Ukrainian defence companies or suppliers of key components. At least three German firms were among those listed as supplying drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to Ukraine. The post included a vague suggestion that those locations could be targeted.” (04/20/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/20/germany-summons-russian-ambassador-citing-direct-threats
-----
5) Chavez-DeRemer out as US Labor secretary
Source: CNN
“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will step down from the Trump administration to take a job in the private sector, according to a statement posted Monday by White House communications director Steven Cheung. … Chavez-DeRemer’s brief tenure has been one marked by turmoil as she’s come under internal investigation following complaints within the department about her conduct. The New York Times previously reported that her husband had been banned from the department’s headquarters amid sexual assault allegations. A criminal investigation into that matter has been closed. In March, two of her top aides were forced out amid an investigation into misconduct at the agency, the Times reported.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/politics/lori-chavez-deremer-labor-secretary-out-trump
-----
6) Peru: Regime Reviews Disputed Election Ballots With Final Result Likely Stalled Until May
Source: US News & World Report
“Peru’s electoral authorities began reviewing thousands of contested ballots on Monday, stalling the count in the April 12 general election and delaying final results, as no clear presidential rival has emerged to face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in a June runoff. Roughly 6% of polling stations — representing more than one million votes — were challenged last week due to missing information or errors on tally sheets, according to Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). Peru’s top electoral body, the National Jury of Elections (JNE), said it has started reviewing disputed polling stations in public hearings before adding them to the final tally, a process that could take weeks.” (04/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-20/peru-reviews-disputed-election-ballots-with-final-result-likely-stalled-until-may
-----
7) Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket grounded after delivering satellite to wrong orbit
Source: The Verge
“The Federal Aviation Administration grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket after it shuttled its payload to the wrong orbit during its launch on Sunday, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel. ‘The FAA is aware that Blue Origin New Glenn 3 experienced a mishap during the second-stage flight sequence following a successful launch,’ the FAA said in a statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. … Though the rocket’s reusable booster returned to its landing pad without issue, the rocket’s upper stage failed to deliver AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite. … Blue Origin confirmed that its second stage shut off its engines and was in a ‘coast phase’ after reaching an ‘off-nominal’ orbit, but it didn’t provide any other details about what went wrong or when it will return to Earth.” (04/20/26)
https://archive.is/dZt8p
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8) Patel files frivolous lawsuit vs. The Atlantic
Source: CNBC
“FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday morning filed a lawsuit seeking $250 million in damages from The Atlantic magazine for what he claims is a defamatory article that alleges he abuses alcohol. Patel over the weekend had vowed to sue The Atlantic for the article published on Friday, which was carried the headline ‘Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job.’ ‘The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,’ the article’s subhed says. Patel’s suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. … The Atlantic, in a statement to CNBC, said, ‘We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/20/kash-patel-atlantic-lawsuit-alcohol-fbi.html
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9) Hungary: Magyar announces ministers after landslide election win
Source: SFGate
“Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar on Monday announced the first round of his incoming government’s Cabinet members, including nominees for ministers of foreign affairs, finance and economy, following the first meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. Magyar and his center-right Tisza party defeated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a landslide election on April 12, securing a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s next parliament which will make it possible to undo many of the policies Orbán implemented during his 16 years in power. The opposition leader has vowed to restore democratic institutions and the rule of law which eroded under Orbán’s rule, and to hold accountable those who he says were responsible for overseeing and benefiting from widespread official corruption. Magyar’s party gained 141 seats out of 199 in parliament — the largest majority in Hungary’s post-Communist history. Orbán’s far-right, euroskeptic Fidesz party will control 52 seats, down from 135 before the election.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/hungary-s-magyar-announces-ministers-after-22216067.php
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10) Mexico: Four US drug thugs killed in car crash
Source: CBS News
“Four anti-narcotics agents, including two American embassy workers, were killed in a car accident while returning from a major drug raid in northern Mexico, prosecutors said Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, six clandestine synthetic drug labs were raided in Morelos, in the northern state of Chihuahua, following a three-month investigation, state prosecutor Cesar Jauregui told reporters. The victims’ vehicle, which was leading an official convoy of five cars, skidded off the road and plunged into a ravine, he said. The Americans killed were ‘instructor officers’ who ‘were carrying out training tasks’ as part of anti-drug cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, Jauregui said.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-embassy-officials-killed-car-crash-drug-lab-raid-mexico/
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11) Slovenia: Golob’s Party Goes Into Opposition After Coalition Talks Fail
Source: US News & World Report
“Slovenia’s outgoing prime minister, Robert Golob, on Monday said that his liberal Freedom Movement (GS), which narrowly won a parliamentary vote in March, would go into opposition after failing to secure a majority coalition, indicating that centre-right parties would form a government. GS won 29 of the 90 seats in parliament, followed by the right-leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of populist, pro-Trump ex-prime minister Janez Jansa on 28. Along with smaller parties that have typically supported them, GS would have 40 MPs while SDS would have 43 seats, leaving both in need of support from elsewhere.” (04/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-20/slovenia-pm-golobs-party-goes-into-opposition-after-coalition-talks-fail
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12) EU: Serbia could lose access to a billion euros over democratic backsliding
Source: SFGate
“Serbia could lose access to around 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in European Union funds if it fails to halt democratic backsliding, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos warned on Monday. International monitors have said they had witnessed violence and irregularities during last month’s local elections in 10 Serbian municipalities. ‘We are increasingly worried about what is happening in Serbia,’ Kos told EU lawmakers. She said the European Commission is ‘assessing whether the country still fulfills the conditions for payments under the EU’s financial instruments.’ Kos said the commission’s concerns range from ‘laws that undermine the independence of the judiciary, to crackdowns on protesters and recurrent meddling in independent media.’ Serbia qualifies for a big slice of an EU fund to promote growth in countries trying to join the bloc if they carry out reforms. Kos said Belgrade has received 110 million euros ($130 million), but that still ‘leaves around 1.5 billion under a question mark.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/eu-says-serbia-could-lose-access-to-a-billion-22216056.php
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13) Eli Lilly agrees to acquire cancer drug maker Kelonia in deal worth up to $7 billion
Source: CNBC
“Eli Lilly will acquire biotech company Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $7 billion, the company said Monday. Lilly will pay $3.25 billion upfront, and the remaining payments are contingent upon clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Kelonia is developing technology to reprogram patients’ T-cells inside the body so those cells can attack cancer, called in vivo CAR-T. Current treatments require that work to be done outside the body, or ex vivo, a process that involves harvesting cells, engineering them in a lab and then reintroducing them. While logistically intensive, the procedure has been successful for blood cancers like multiple myeloma.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/20/eli-lilly-to-acquire-cancer-drug-maker-kelonia.html
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14) SCOTUS rejects Massachusetts school gender-identity policy challenge
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by parents to sue a public school district in Massachusetts over actions by teachers and officials to support the gender identity of students by not disclosing name or pronoun changes to parents without the child’s consent. The justices turned away an appeal by the parents of a student who had self-identified as ‘genderqueer’ while attending a middle school in the Massachusetts town of Ludlow after a lower court threw out their lawsuit. The plaintiffs claimed officials treated their child as nonbinary and hid this information from them in violation of their fundamental parental rights as protected by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of due process.” (04/20/26)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-rejects-massachusetts-school-gender-identity-policy-challenge-2026-04-20/
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15) UK: Two arrested in London synagogue arson case
Source: United Press International
“British police overnight arrested two teens in connection with an attempted arson of a London synagogue, authorities said Monday as they investigate a rash of recent attacks targeting the Jewish community as possible terrorism. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told UPI in an emailed statement Monday that a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were arrested overnight …. There have been at least five separate arson attacks in London since four ambulances used by the Jewish community in Golders Green were set ablaze March 23. … The Met’s Counter Terrorism Policing unit is leading an investigation into all of these incidents, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans told reporters outside Kenton United in a Sunday press conference, stating that the ‘nature’ of all the crimes has been similar — ‘arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/04/20/synagogue-arson-arrests/1701776669549/
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16) UK: Starmer admits mistake in appointing Mandelson as UK ambassador but resists calls to resign
Source: SFGate
“British Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged Monday that he made the wrong judgment when he picked Jeffrey Epstein ’s friend Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington, batting away a barrage of calls to resign over a scandal that has left his leadership teetering. Starmer said he would have withdrawn the appointment if he’d known Mandelson had failed security checks, as he tried to explain why Mandelson was given the U.K.’s most important diplomatic post. Starmer placed blame squarely on Foreign Office officials who he said failed to tell him about the security concerns and approved Mandelson’s appointment despite them. Starmer told lawmakers in the House of Commons that ‘I would not have gone ahead with the appointment’ had he known the truth.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/british-prime-minister-starmer-faces-angry-22215247.php
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17) Importers rush to file as US regime launches tariff refund claims portal
Source: USA Today
“Jay Foreman said he’s ‘locked and loaded’ for the U.S. government’s April 20 launch of a new system to refund up to $166 billion in illegally collected tariffs, but he and many other importers are realistic that much could still go wrong. ‘You have to be worried about what they could possibly do to jam things up,’ said the CEO of toymaker Basic Fun, which sells Tonka trucks, Care Bears and K’Nex construction toys. The refund system is the latest twist in a drawn-out battle over tariffs collected over the past year …. The constantly shifting tariffs roiled global business as companies rushed to shift supply chains to avoid them as well as figure out who would ultimately pay the taxes. The Supreme Court in February struck down the tariffs President Trump pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies, handing the president a stinging defeat.” (04/20/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2026/04/20/tariff-refund-claims-portal-launch/89695651007/
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18) France: Prosecutors summon Musk, Yaccarino over alleged child abuse images, deepfakes on X
Source: Radio France Internationale [French state media]
“Billionaire Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content. Musk, the world’s richest man, and Linda Yaccarino – the former CEO of X – have been called for voluntary interviews on Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It is unclear whether either will attend. Prosecutors said the interviews would allow executives to ‘present their position’ and outline compliance measures. They described the inquiry as a ‘constructive approach’ aimed at ensuring X complies with French law.” (04/20/26)
https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20260420-french-prosecutors-summon-elon-musk-over-alleged-child-abuse-images-deepfakes-on-x
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19) MA: Paul Revere’s midnight ride unfolds in broad daylight, with a police escort
Source: SFGate
“The clip-clop of horse hooves echoed as Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston’s North End on Monday — a reenactment of his historic midnight ride, but with some modern-day tweaks: this time, the revolutionary hero set out under bright daylight and a police escort. Residents lined the narrow streets as the rider passed, some lifting phones to record while others waved, clapped and called out, ‘Here he comes!’ and ‘We love you, Paul!’ The ride cut through dense city blocks where everyday life continued alongside the spectacle — people walking dogs, jogging and moving through parks and apartment-lined streets, some pausing to watch, others carrying on. Mary McCabe, who came from Lowell with her daughter Cecily, said it was interesting ‘just to see how different messages traveled back then.’ Cecily, who said she loves learning about the American Revolution, said seeing the reenactment in person made history feel more real.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/paul-revere-s-midnight-ride-to-be-reenacted-22215265.php
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20) AZ: Residents kill home intruder
Source: AOL
“A man was shot and killed after police say he forced his way inside a Phoenix home overnight. Just after 3:15 a.m. on April 18, officers said 25-year-old Isaac Nathaniel Cordova-Fregoso forced entry into a home near 74th and Pueblo Avenue. The residents inside confronted the man and shot him at least once. Cordova-Fregoso was found inside the home with at least one gunshot wound. He died at the scene from his injuries.” (04/19/26)
https://www.aol.com/news/intruder-killed-forcing-way-phoenix-212126601.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Consenting to Endless Coercion
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard
“Presidents perennially claim that they possess their power thanks to ‘the consent of the governed.’ This phrase, a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson’s time. President Harry Truman assured Congress in 1952, ‘No government can be invested with a higher dignity and greater worth than one based upon the principle of consent.’ But this has long since been a charade. As the federal government has become far larger and more heavy-handed, it is ever more important to persuade people that they consented to their oppression. But political consent is gauged very differently than consent in other areas of life.” (04/20/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/consenting-to-endless-coercion/
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22) The C-word in Surveillance
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“I might not win an argument explaining how San Jose’s public surveillance relates to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. But. … That amendment insists that people have a right ‘to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,’ and that governments may not search and seize property without a warrant ‘upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ … I’m biased: mass surveillance is Orwellian. Do we want our government keeping track of us that much? Especially as in San Jose, where not only can over a thousand police department employees scour the data sans any legal warrant, but the department also shares this resource with over 300 agencies across the state. Creepy. That’s the word for it.” (04/20/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/20/c-word-in-surveillance/
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23) Three Disasters That Legal Weed Didn’t Unleash — Despite the Forecasts
Source: Reason
by Jeff Luse
“From higher crime to teenage stoners, here are things that the weed debate got wrong.” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/20/3-disasters-that-legal-weed-didnt-unleash-despite-the-forecasts/
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24) America: Land of the (Not Really) Free
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Supporters of the income tax implicitly endorse the idea that our rights are gifts from government and, thus, can be revoked by government at the will of our rulers. Adoption of the income tax signified the abandonment of the belief that individuals have inalienable rights granted them by the Creator. Therefore, those who believe in natural rights must reject income taxation. It is also a violation of the people’s rights when the central bank reduces the value of the dollar, and thus the people’s purchasing power, via the hidden inflation tax.” (04/20/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/america-land-of-the-not-really-free
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25) The Hyperreality of the State
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Philippe Lemieux
“Modern economic policies increasingly give an impression of unreality. Governments announce reassuring indicators while individuals experience something entirely different: persistent inflation, housing shortages, stagnating purchasing power. This gap is not merely an analytical error. It reveals a deeper problem: the state no longer reacts to economic reality as it is lived, but to a reconstructed version built from models, indicators, and abstract categories. The market, by contrast, does not rely on representation. It emerges directly from human action.” 904/20/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/hyperreality-state
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26) Nothing About This Dystopia Feels Natural
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“We all sense it deep in our marrow. We all know something has gone terribly wrong. If you lived in an alternate reality without wars or poverty, where everyone had enough and governments did what’s in the interests of the people and the ecosystem, it would never occur to you that there was anything odd about it. It would feel completely normal. Things would be more or less how you’d expect them to be. You can’t say the same about the present status quo. The whole thing instinctively scans as weird and counterintuitive. The more you learn about the way the world works, the more insane it all looks to you. Have you ever had to explain war to a young child? It’s terrible. If you’re actually honest with them about what war is and why it is waged, it completely shatters their understanding of the world.” (04/20/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/20/nothing-about-this-dystopia-feels-natural/
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27) The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
Source: CounterPunch
by M Reza Behnam
“The unprovoked joint U.S.-Israeli war launched against Iran on 28 February 2026 will manifestly change West Asia. When it ends, Arab despots, who allowed their countries to be used as platforms for aggression against Iran, will confront a new reality. The safety and stability they thought was theirs based on fealty to the United States and its Israeli proxy was shattered as Iranian missiles and drones were en route to destroy the U.S. military and intelligence installations they had allowed on their soil; a subordination they falsely believed would protect them. The Arab world is learning the hard way what the late-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in his cold logic, implied decades ago about American foreign policy: ‘The word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/20/the-axis-of-terror-the-destructive-price-of-americas-blind-allegiance-to-israel/
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28) Perhaps only an autocracy can have a directed economy?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“[Ha Joon] Chang positively revels in the power that the military dictatorship in South Korea had over who could produce what, how. It’s positively lipsmacking, that relish with which the stories of commands to produce this or that are described. As we point out, you cannot do that sort of thing in a free society. You can’t even do that sort of thing in a liberal society — because freedom and liberty do indeed mean not being commanded to produce this or that and in what manner.” (04/20/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/perhaps-only-an-autocracy-can-have-a-directed-economy
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29) I Want You to March With Me This May Day
Source: Our Future
by Sulma Arias
“This May Day, I’ll be one of the millions who will peacefully take to the streets to denounce the cruelty and corruption of this administration and the oligarchs it serves. I will march because I believe our lives are worth more than dollars and cents. Every one of us deserves the right to live in dignity with hope for the future. I invite you to join me. May Day began in the 19th century, when industrial workers came together to demand something we now take for granted: an eight-hour workday. At that time, even children worked twelve or more hours straight in factories, every day. We too easily forget how far we have come, and that victories like these were won by organized people.” (04/19/26)
https://ourfuture.org/20260419/i-want-you-to-march-with-me-this-may-day
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30) A Better Alternative to High-Deductible Health Insurance
Source: Independent Institute
by John C Goodman & Pete Sessions
“Health economics tells us there are two ways to insure for anything: self-insurance (with individuals taking the risks and saving to pay for them) and third-party insurance (in which an insurance company, an employer or the government bears the risk). Self-insurance makes sense for risks over which we have more personal control. For example, just about every time you have needed a Band-Aid, it was probably for an event you could have easily avoided. The problem is that most people are not accustomed to self-insuring for medical expenses. The median household has only $8,000 in a bank account, and millions of families are living paycheck to paycheck. The solution to that problem is a Health Savings Account.” (04/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/20/a-better-alternative-to-high-deductible-health-insurance/
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31) How women’s digital lives change China
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“A recent surprise in China was a survey that found professional women have adapted faster to using artificial intelligence than men. They also show less fear of AI. Yet it was the explanation for this AI gender gap that offered a keyhole into how Chinese women are changing themselves and society from inside the narrow lanes imposed upon them by the ruling party. One insight on the survey came from Poh-Yian Koh, president of FedEx China. She said in the era of AI, the common female traits of flexibility, resilience, empathy, long-term vision, and bridge-building allow women to serve as ‘indispensable ‘interpreters’ who connect technology with humanity.’ ‘Technology can be replicated. Empathy cannot,’ she said. ‘In the age of intelligence, trust is the scarcest resource’” Technology might determine how fast society moves, but ‘humanity determines how far we go.'” (04/18/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0417/How-women-s-digital-lives-change-China
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32) AI, free speech, and America’s real advantage over China
Source: The Eternally Radical Idea
by Greg Lukianoff & Adam Thierer
“Our overbroad proposed AI regulations should alarm anyone who cares about free speech — and America’s competitive position against China.” (04/20/26)
https://eternallyradicalidea.com/p/ai-free-speech-and-americas-real
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33) Iran’s 10-Point Plan Is Still a Workable Basis for Negotiations
Source: Common Dreams
by Nicolas JS Davies
“The US government under Donald Trump has twice used disingenuous negotiations with Iran to provide cover for attacking it, in June 2025 and again before launching the current war in February. Now it is trying to do so for a third time. On April 8, the US and Iran began a two week ceasefire, after Trump accepted a 10-point peace plan drawn up by Iran as ‘a workable basis on which to negotiate’. But Vice President Vance and US negotiators rejected Iran’s plan out of hand at talks in Pakistan on April 11, and instead demanded that Iran must give up its right as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (or NPT) to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. The talks ended with no agreement. As the end of the ceasefire on April 22 drew near, Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to US demands on enriched uranium and other matters.” (04/20/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/iran-war-10-point-peace-plan
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34) Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Larry Iannaccone and his co-author Rodney Stark once wrote that the belief that society is getting less religious says ‘less about empirical fact than it does about secularization faith — a faith that, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, sustains the conviction of many social scientists that religious institutions must soon decay …’ In short, belief in secularization is just a religion. Larry’s critics were, unsurprisingly, not pleased. To tell people that their non-religious beliefs are just a religion is an insult. Why is it an insult? There isn’t any nice way to answer, so I’ll be blunt. It is an insult because the way that people form religious beliefs is so intellectually irresponsible that their conclusions are almost guaranteed to be false.”? (04/20/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/why-religious-beliefs-are-irrational-4cc
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35) An Egalitarian Faith?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ben Peterson
“Even before 1776, American liberty and equality were expressed in church and civil covenants and compacts, like the 1620 Mayflower Compact. Alexis de Tocqueville makes much of such covenants and compacts in Democracy in America, arguing that religion lies at the core of American character and sustains the American experiment in democracy. Christianity, in his view, is especially well-suited to supporting liberty, equality, and self-government, as it naturally rules over hearts and minds without relying on state support. Uncontested in the intellectual and moral realm, Christianity lifts the democratic soul upward, beyond the petty material concerns that tend to consume men’s minds in democratic ages. At the same time, Tocqueville argues that Christianity must accommodate itself to democratic equality, especially the love of material wellbeing and distaste for forms it engenders.” (04/20/26)
https://lawliberty.org/an-egalitarian-faith/
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36) Evolutionary Subversion
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“How to evolve a hierarchy without fighting it head on.” (04/20/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/evolutionary-subversion
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37) Wisdom From the Founders: Why Eric Swalwell Should Never Have Been Elected in the First Place
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“‘If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?’ – James Madison … A very clear — and truthful — analysis by Mr. Madison, and it explains in a few words, the problem with most governments in history, and that includes the current American government. As I have noted countless times, the American Founders said that the country cannot succeed without a virtuous people electing virtuous leaders. Well, people elected Eric Swalwell, who is the epitome of vice and immorality. Swalwell is human scum, but what does his election to Congress tell us about the people who put him there in the first place? And do we really think the people of his Congressional district are going to learn from their folly and replace Swalwell with a paragon of Christian virtue?” (04/20/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/04/20/wisdom-from-the-founders-why-eric-swalwell-should-never-have-been-elected-in-the-first-place-n2674705
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38) A Reckoning Is Underway at the FDA
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Maryanne Demasi
“In September, it was reported that FDA officials had privately investigated 25 paediatric deaths following Covid vaccination — the first systematic review of such cases since the rollout began. The findings were meant to be presented to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). But the presentation never came. The meeting passed without a word. Something had happened behind closed doors. Now we know what.” (04/20/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/a-reckoning-is-underway-at-the-fda/
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39) Catholics finally splitting with Trump over Iran war and Israel
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“It started with Gaza, but the admin’s fight with the pope and its insistence that Jesus blesses US bombing raids have put this pillar of the base at serious risk.” (04/20/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/catholics-pope-war-trump/
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40) Why Gas Tax Holidays Backfire
Source: The Daily Economy
by Thomas Savidge
“Adjusting end prices can’t address the underlying shortage. In fact, waiving taxes may intensify demand when supply is already stretched.” (04/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-gas-tax-holidays-backfire/
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41) Trump Sabotages His Own Much-Exaggerated Iran Deal
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“On Thursday and Friday, there seemed to be progress toward a war-ending deal. President Trump went along with an Iranian demand that Israel must cease bombing Lebanon as a precondition to talks. … on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the Strait of Hormuz was ‘completely open.’ Trump claimed that a deal was at hand, leading the stock market to jump and the price of oil to fall. In ordinary diplomacy, this is how a deal unfolds. Each side offers the other something constructive, a process that builds confidence and trust, until eventually a firm agreement can be signed. But Trump is not a ordinary diplomat. Only a few hours after Araghchi proclaimed the strait open, Trump closed it again, announcing that the U.S. would continue its own blockade of the strait ‘until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.” (04/20/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/20/trump-sabotages-his-own-much-exaggerated-iran-deal/
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42) Israel’s Expansion Means An Unraveling of Middle East Stability
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“The recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran may have paused the most intense phase of direct military confrontation, but it has done nothing to resolve the deeper questions about Middle Eastern stability that have emerged since October 7, 2023. Behind the temporary calm lies a profound transformation in Israeli strategic thinking, one that has moved from containment to active regional reorganization. Israel is not a normal democracy that abides by the rule of law or legal restraint. It is very much an expansionist state with bold ambitions and a demonstrated willingness to break international law. The events of the past two years have made this reality impossible to ignore.” (04/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/israels-expansion-means-an-unraveling-of-middle-east-stability
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43) MAGA’s Dead. What’s Next?
Source: The American Conservative
by Andrew Day
“The conservative-populist movement that Trump summoned has dominated the American right for a decade, but when he leaves office three years hence, either something new will take its place or a period of incoherence will commence. Right-wingers in recent years have propounded several alternatives: Catholic ‘integralism,’ which seems unable to garner much support in our secular, erstwhile Protestant nation; ‘post-liberalism,’ an empty signifier and mere negation; white nationalism, a dead end; CEO-style monarchism, which Trumpism has in effect only further delegitimized (hence the ‘No Kings’ protests); and so on. This essay proposes and adumbrates a different ideology, which I believe could not only glue together a winning coalition but also guide responsible governance: right-liberalism.” (04/20/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/magas-dead-whats-next/
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44) America is the Bad Guy in This Movie
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“For nearly a century, mainstream American cinema has regurgitated, devoured, and re-regurgitated the same foaming popcorn mythology in which it is presented as basic common sense that America is always the good guy and that every foreigner with a funny accent who stands in his way is a totally otherized human bowling pin who exists for the sole purpose of being obliterated again and again and again in a voluptuous bacchanalia of endless machine gun barrages and bottomless stacks of bloodless corpses. Your average American is raised on a steady diet of this schlock with a side of paint-by-the-numbers public school history teachers who can turn any warzone into a beige labyrinth of names and dates to memorize for next week’s ludoviko scantron test.” (04/19/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/04/america-is-bad-guy-in-this-movie.html
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45) If we don’t lock up and treat the mentally ill, we’ll continue to pay a deadly price
Source: New York Post
by Stephen Eide
“Last week, in Nebraska, Noemi Guzman tried to kidnap a 3-year-old from Walmart. Horrific bodycam footage from the police shows her holding a knife over the boy, slashing him, before cops shot her dead. Two years prior, a judge let Guzman off for a raft of felony charges, including arson and assault, by reason of insanity. One of the most horrific crimes this decade happened last August, when, on Charlotte North Carolina’s transit system, a mentally ill man named Decarlos Brown allegedly stabbed to death Iryna Zarutska, a complete stranger and Ukrainian refugee. Brown suffers from schizophrenia, yet was let go for previous crimes. His mother said she tried to get him involuntarily committed but was refused.” (04/19/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/19/opinion/if-we-dont-lock-up-and-treat-the-mentally-ill-well-continue-to-pay-a-deadly-price/
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46) The high cost of high minimum wages
Source: The Hill
by Fracois Melese
“New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is pushing for ‘$30 in ’30,’ to raise the city’s minimum from $17 today to $30/hour by the end of the decade. Supporters applaud lawmakers granting struggling workers a ‘living wage.’ The logic seems clear: Wage hikes boost incomes, making life more affordable. But although increases to the minimum wage help those lucky enough to keep their jobs, hours and benefits, they hurt many more.” (04/19/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5836543-pro-growth-policies-affordability/
-----
47) Ideas We Can Steal
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My previous post provided an example of the use of past legal systems in understanding our present legal system: the logic of feud law applied to high tech patent litigation. There are others, some of which suggest changes we might want to make to our system, ideas we could steal.” (04/19/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ideas-we-can-steal
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48) Behind the “disappearing scientists” hysteria
Source: UnHerd
by Richard Hanania
“Are America’s top scientists being kidnapped or disappeared by a foreign adversary? Right-wing media are abuzz with speculation that 11 different individuals working on issues related to secret technology or the investigation of extraterrestrial life have been picked off one by one: murdered, kidnapped, disappeared. The stuff of The X-Files, in short: ‘The truth is out there,’ but shadowy forces don’t want you to know. After working its way through the conservative press and the online Right, this narrative got a major boost last week, when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration was looking into the matter. … Fortunately, this entire narrative appears to be, to put it gently, complete nonsense.” (04/19/26)
https://archive.is/qWqXX
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49) After Decades of Quiet Rumbling, an Epidemic Is Erupting Among California Stoneworkers
Source: In These Times
by Kayla Yup
“Luis Hernandez, then 35, woke to a gray, hazy sky on Feb. 17, 2024. He opted for a warm sweater and cargo pants with pockets just big enough to hold his spare canister of oxygen, but he hoped he wouldn’t need it. It would be a big day out for him and his friends — the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., was hosting a special Pokemon Go event where some of the rarest Pokemon could be found. When the group arrived, they headed straight to the belly of the bowl, blanketed with bright green turf. Hernandez settled into a rhythm: Walk 50 feet. Pause for 30 minutes. Catch some Pokemon. Walk another 50 feet. Pause another 30 minutes. Catch some Pokemon. Walk another 50 feet. Pause another 30 minutes. When he started gasping for air, he sat down — on a chair if he was lucky, the turf if he was not.” (04/20/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/decades-struggle-workplace-protections-california-stoneworkers-lung-disease
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50) In America’s First Solar-Powered Town, Education Options Abound
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“[Amanda] Pacheco is one of approximately 15,000 residents in what is known as America’s first solar-powered town, defined by its environmental vision, hurricane resilience and strong sense of community. Since welcoming its first residents in January 2018, Babcock Ranch’s population has soared, with plans to reach 50,000 in the years ahead. As this future-focused community grows, its K-12 education landscape is expanding alongside it, shaped by the same spirit of innovation. With a rising assortment of public schooling, homeschooling and micro-schooling options, Babcock Ranch offers a distinct snapshot of today’s evolving education offerings and the families who choose them.” (04/19/26)
https://fee.org/articles/in-americas-first-solar-powered-town-education-options-abound/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 04/20/26
Source: Reason
"Can New York Survive Mamdani's Tax Plan?" (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/20/can-new-york-survive-mamdanis-tax-plan/
-----
52) Rising, 04/20/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Rep. Ilhan Omar claiming her net worth to be less than $100,000, after a report from last year showed that her and her husband held assets worth up to $30 million.” (04/20/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5834599-rising-april-20-2026/
-----
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/20/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty
“Trump On Iran: ‘Lots Of Bombs Will Go Off’ If No Agreement.” (04/20/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1PJqrEAYnAQxb
-----
54) Reason Interview: Afroman
Source: Reason
“Afroman discusses his free speech court victory, why he thinks he could unite America, and whether he feels pressure to always be high.” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/20/afroman-on-becoming-the-2028-libertarian-presidential-nominee/
-----
55) SolutionsWatch, 04/20/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Declaring Health Sovereignty.” (04/20/26)
https://corbettreport.com/declaring-health-sovereignty/
-----
56) EconTalk, 04/20/26
Source: EconTalk
“Adam Smith’s Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine).” (04/20/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/adam-smiths-warning-about-wealth-fame-and-status-with-ross-levine/
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57) Free Talk Live, 04/19/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Genitals stolen in Africa :: Will Bitcoin die? :: Issues gold, silver and bitcoin could face :: Mark Challenges Rich E Rich on Bitcoin maximalism :: Shopping malls making a resurgence? :: What demographic stealing from malls? :: Learned helplessness and the scientist that helped the CIA to torture :: Caller said repeal the 19th amendment and right to vote for Italians :: How the cops stole Bonnie’s spit :: They’re putting toilets in cars :: 62 year old won the right to wear a penis costume in public :: You deserve your whole penis :: James Wittekind calls breaking Mark’s restraining order :: Invideo.io for making AI videos :: 2026-04-19 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Mark Edge, Colin, Rich E Rich.” (04/19/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-04-19
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58) Zooming In, 04/19/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Trump Proved to be Unimaginably Bad for the Free Market Cause: A Conversation with Veronique de Rugy.” (04/19/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-proved-to-be-unimaginably-bad
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59) Unattended Baggage, episode 337
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Adrian forgets to push a button, Alex still trying to crawl out of his dark hole, you can trust us when we urge you not to trust us, Anthropic just became the most powerful entity on Earth …” (04/19/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-337-take-2
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60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/19/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Navy Attacks Iranian Cargo Ship, Israel Establishes Gaza-Style ‘Yellow Line’ in Lebanon, and More.” (04/19/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6p6Cg1rEFY
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