Hey, everyone …
It’s a FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper. We’ve got nearly 120 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links (too many for a standard email edition) lined up for you here at our web edition:
But wait … now that most or all of our daily editions are “hybrid” editions with some content in email and some only on the web, why have these web-only days?
Two reasons, one of them specific to this week.
The reason specific to this week is that Steve has been out of action the last few days due to the winter storm weather taking out his power and Internet. Which means that I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, so I decided today to focus entirely on “lots of content” rather than spending any time on “email formatting.”
The general reason is that, outside of our annual year-end fundraiser, I limit my mentions of money to the occasional reminder — usually on “web-only” days — that we’re a reader-supported publication and that you’re a reader. Please consider a one-time donation or, better yet, become a “subscribing contributor” for as little as $1 per month! Here’s the info on that:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend — and stay warm (even here in north central Florida, we’re expecting temperatures below 20 degrees fahrenheit this weekend)! We’ll be back with the regular email / social media editions on Monday.
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“Civil society groups and celebrities are calling for a general strike or ‘National Shutdown Day’ across the US on Friday, 30 January, to protest the government’s hardline immigration crackdown. In cities and towns across the country, people will not be going out to school, work or shopping to show solidarity with residents in Minnesota, where earlier this month Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents [murdered] two local protesters. … Some of the main organisers of Friday’s general strike are student unions and labour activists from the University of Minnesota, who advocated a similar statewide action on 23 January, the previous Friday. This time, the shutdown is set to be nationwide, with hundreds of endorsements from local, state and national organisations, and with some major names showing their support.” [editor’s note: Nice sentiment, but I don’t expect it to be the big deal it should be – TLK] (01/29/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/anti-ice-general-strike-planned-across-us-30-january
Source: Judging Freedom
by Andrew P Napolitano
“Last week, a half-dozen masked and unidentifiable Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed a 37-year-old federal employee, a nurse, by spraying pepper spray into his eyes, pushing him to the ground, stealing his lawfully owned and carried handgun, and then shooting him nine times in the back. … Under the Constitution, immigration — who can legally come to and remain in the United States — was left to the states to regulate; and naturalization — who can become an American citizen — was left to the feds.” (01/29/26)
https://archive.is/1bqoc
Source: The Fifth Column
“Enthusiastic Armadas, Armenian Bakeries, Ye’s Apology Ad.” (01/29/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/enthusiastic-armadas-armenian-bakeries
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“US President Donald Trump says Russia’s Vladimir Putin has agreed not to attack Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other parts of the country for a week due to ‘extraordinary cold’ weather. Russia has not confirmed an agreement, but Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the move. While Trump did not specify when the pause would begin, overnight into Friday air raid alerts went off in just four Ukrainian regions that are close to the frontline. Temperatures in Kyiv were due to plummet from Thursday, reaching -24C (-11F) over the next few days. In recent weeks, Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as it has during cold periods since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.” (01/30/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4yj92kwro
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“Industrial policy is failing, and not just in Washington. Across America, officials promise to engineer the right economic outcomes by intervening in the market in just the right ways. Most people know that under Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the idea has exploded. Less appreciated is how enthusiastically governors and state legislators are embracing their own versions. They repeat the same claims: With the right mix of subsidies, protection, and political direction, one government or another can revive strategic industries and deliver durable economic strength. The results tell a different story. Wherever it’s found, industrial policy is producing wasted resources, distorted incentives, and fragile outcomes that collapse the moment political support shifts or market realities intrude.” (01/29/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/29/from-georgias-film-subsidies-to-intels-collapse-industrial-policy-keeps-failing/
Source: SFGate
“A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who had dialed 911 to report a possible prowler outside her Springfield home. Sean Grayson, 31, was convicted in October. Grayson, who is white, received the maximum possible sentence. He has been incarcerated since he was charged in the killing. … Grayson was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, which could have led to a life sentence, but a jury convicted him of the lesser charge. Illinois allows for a second-degree murder conviction if evidence shows the defendant honestly thought he was in danger, even if that fear was unreasonable.” (01/29/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/the-former-illinois-deputy-convicted-of-killing-21321475.php
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Frank Miroslav
“For some time, I was thinking about writing a review of Kevin Carson’s book The Desktop Regulatory State, which helped inspire me to become an anarchist back in 2016, to see how it aged in the decade since it was published. But then ICE invaded the city of Minneapolis. And then the citizens fought back in a way that is seemingly a textbook application of what Carson wrote about in that book, to the point that if a second edition is ever published, I would not at all be surprised if it had an entire subsection in the appendix of the book, Case Study in Networked Resistance.” (01/28/26)
https://c4ss.org/content/60977
Source: The Hill
“The Senate’s race to avert a shutdown hit the skids late Thursday night as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) placed a hold on the government funding package, forcing leaders to punt the vote. Senators had been hoping to vote on the so-called minibus after leaders struck a deal earlier in the day and President Trump endorsed it. Under the agreement, the Senate was set to vote on a package of five full-year funding bills and a stopgap measure funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two weeks. But as lawmakers awaited word on the vote late Thursday, a fired-up Graham emerged from Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) office and declared, ‘We’re not voting tonight.’ Graham pointed to language in the bill that would repeal a provision allowing senators to sue if their phone records were collected as part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s probe.” (01/29/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5714316-senate-government-funding-shutdown
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“When they hear about awesome yet unlikely policy reforms, one of economists’ favorite reactions is to shrug and sigh, ‘But there’s a huge credibility problem.’ Why not promise foreign investors that they’ll never be expropriated? ‘Credibility. Investors know that after they invest, you’ll reverse the policy.’ Why not deny immigrants welfare benefits for life? ‘Credibility. Natives know that once the immigrants are here, they’ll soon pressure us for equal treatment.’ Why not allow people to give up Social Security benefits in exchange for lower taxes? ‘Credibility. Americans won’t tolerate senior citizens living on the streets.’ Citing ‘credibility’ makes economists sound wise, and laymen sound like wise economists. Yet on reflection, most credibility arguments are foolishly obtuse.” (01/29/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-incredibility-of-credibility
